*** Join The Guru Challenge! ***

thx. for the welcome Mixer. You said you don't feel happy and I know that it's okay because gambling takes the not feeling happy and turns it into total ruin. So much respect to you for keeping up this wonderful thread , maintaining your conviction and for caring that your family feels more happy and secure. Maybe look for happy moments? 🙂 Thx. for the spirit of this thread. The guru challenge! Glad to have decided to come on board. tara2

Hello Mixer. Your posts are always thought provoking, honest and totally relevant to our recovery.

Being gamble free does not necessarily bring us happiness but it brings us a lot less misery. Like you rightly say, being a bit sad with money in our pocket is better than being miserable and skint.

Being subdued now and than may be part of who we are, or maybe there are reasons behind it, who knows !!! We have no need to fear or resent it, we can in fact welcome it with open arms. Embrace the blues and accept ourselves for what we are.

If we feel in the mood we can sit in quiet contemplation. Passively reflecting on our thoughts and emotions with neither praise nor condemnation.

Wishing you contentment, understanding and joy...stephen

Checking in for the week, all is good.

Hey Stephen I get the name meaning a lot to you and you have to get in the right frame of mind to beat this and for me my forum name means a lot too. Luciodog was my poker online name and Godoicul is Luciodog backwards which represents my will to turn things around.

Also Adam I get the not feeling the pub thing I’ve been out in City drinking last 2 sat night with a mate who has been playing the slots it’s no fun really I see the anger in him when he’s losing. Before I quit I lost the anger/joy of playing slots and I can remember the last time I took a jackpot it scared the c**P out of me as I felt nothing.

We have to stay strong because the gambling opportunities are everywhere init.

Tara2 - thank you for your considered, thoughtful post. You're right - it's not about happiness, as such, but comparative contentment. I read an interview with Jordan Peterson who said:

“‘Happiness’ is a pointless goal. Don’t compare yourself with other people, compare yourself with who you were yesterday. No one gets away with anything, ever, so take responsibility for your own life. You conjure your own world, not only metaphorically but also literally and neurologically. These lessons are what the great stories and myths have been telling us since civilisation began.”

Happiness, like a lot of emotions, is an abstract notion and, yes, you've got it right when you say: gambling simply makes whatever 'state' worse. And yes, there are always happy moments 🙂

Stephen - thank you for your kind words, and you've mirrored what Tara has said and added: let's embrace the blues. Because it means that we, conversely, enjoy the good times more.

I sometimes think about wealth and what seems to be, on the face of it, the 'paradise' that it can bring. I think of Sir Phillip Green, who, in my opinion (and we're still allowed free speech in this country - just) ransacked BHS and left thousands of BHS pensioners high and dry. I think of him, always having to watch his back, because he has made a lot of enemies. For security, he spends most of his time on his superyacht. But is this paradise? Even I would get a bit stir crazy, day after day day at sea. He's overwirght and unfit as the result of one rich meal and booze followed by another followed by another. He has no true friends; just sycopahnts after a slice of his billions.

I'd rather have the cut and thrust of a normal life, where, yes, you have to be on your toes but that's what makes life interesting, fulfilling. All we need to do is cut out gambling because it's a negative drag we don't need, it drains our wealth and weakens our character. And we can stop - just like that, that's the amazing thing!!!! (And with solid blocks, we definitely can!)

Godoicul - it was interesting reading your name choice and how you've reversed it - inspired. Because every time you see name you know you're all about turning your life around. A little reminder, a further incentive. Referring to Adam's perceptive post, it is genuinely interesting watching pub life from a healthy non-gambling point of view. How sad the shifty, sullen, darty-eyed fruit machine gamblers look, permanently staring or semi-staring at the fruit machine, with their moody, silient, anti-social countenance when on these pathetic flashing one-way moneyboxes. That was us. But not any more. Let someone else be the mug, let it fall on someone else to be the pub idiot. (That's how saddo fruit machine addicts are perceived to the pub crowd. I was one.)

Ineffable - echoing all the other posts, happiness isn't the goal. It's about living a more fulfilling life, one that has a better chance of being achieved without gambling. We must, as you say, rejoice in our not gambling. What a relief to realise that we don't need that **** anymore!

Let's keep talking, keep posting, keep resolved. We are in control of how we deal with this. We are not going to gamble today.

Tomorrow, we will make a similar, fresh agreement with ourselves. We'll do that tomorrow.

Keep strong. We have no choice. But the beauty is, the amazing thing is - we have the ability and freedom to make the right choice!

Checking in on day 90 , thankfull to be still gamble free

37days Gfree I am daughter still not in a gd place so I have to stay strong for her and my son and wife, I will say on here everybody needs to stay strong this week I know Chelsham lovers will have to try to steer clear of it

Checking in for the week on 186 days gfree x stay strong everyone
4D

Hello, this is my first time and feels like a huge step to have signed up to this forum. 300 day challenge sounds great, thanks for the support

Checking in, 348 days. Going to be difficult week with Cheltenham on the way.

*** Rollcall might be delayed till tomorrow ***

Good afternoon everyone. Unfortunately, I've had a very busy day today - I've been the victim of identity theft, of all things, and I've been scurrying around trying all day trying to protect my position; it's been a bit of a nightmare but hopefully I've acted *just* in time. The searches on my Experian credit refernece agency account read like a rollcall all on their own (yep, there have been loads of searches, I'm aware of current accounts, loans and credit cards applied for). We've all got to be *so* careful and on the ball these days. So I'm a bit knackered with all of the phone calls and rest of it; for example changing all of my passwords (and not to the same password, either!). I'm sure you'll understand! I'll update the Rollcall either later tonight or definitely by tomorrow.

It reminds me, perhaps reminds us, that whatever life throws at us - and it does, often - we've got to be strong. I think to myself - thank goodness I'm more on top of things these days, without the impediment, irritation and drag of gambling; all it does it make a potential bad problem a lot worse.

Keep strong everyone!

Checking in 282 GF days ! Hope you get sorted my main man mixer , have a safe week people 🙂

Sars

Hi Mixer, the rollcall can wait, get yourself sorted first and foremost, hope you get things sorted out.

Hey Mixer hope all is sorted with the ID theft. Have a great week ahead. I will be watching Cheltenham this week but I won’t be betting on it. I reckon I’ll take a couple of quid every day to work and leave the bank card at home. I do love Cheltenham festival though. Peace be the journey

Checking in with 86 days gambling free. Feeling good and as per last week comment doing well so far managing days in a row without thinking about gambling. I've been quite busy at work the last couple of weeks pushing deadlines and keeping my mind occupied with work mostly. I wish I was doing that well with my studies but hoping to catch up when I take a week off at the end of the month.

Take care!

Sorry you have been having identity fraud troubles Mixer. Hope you get everything sorted out soon.

Hello Godoicul. That's an interesting idea to reverse your gambling name to invent your gamcare name. Makes sense as you do intend to turn your life around.

Wishing all the Guru Challengers a good week ahead.

Stephen - Compulsive gambler - last bet 28/02/18.