Hi mixer am back to day 3 , had managed nearly 47 days so hopefully can beat that this time round so disapointed but will keep going ....pink
Hi Pink - I'm sorry to hear you've had a blip but delighted you're going to keep going. Head high and shoulders back - with extra blocks in place, and ever the wiser. That's the spirit , Pink!
Here's a post (it's long un!) that might interest you. I wrote it a while back but I'm always refining it. It's the first post in this thread ---> right here!
Checking in on day 159 ... not much happening but still gamble free.
Hallo!
Checking in day 11 GF. Gambling has been as far from my mind as it could be. Being extra busy at work is helping immensely. But I know I can’t let my guard down and if urges appear, I will be ready to fight them. Wishing everyone a happy rest of the week!
Stephen checking in 12 days since my last crazy stunt on the fobt. I am so relieved to see the £2 limit will soon apply to them horrible machines. It will have a very positive impact on my recovery as chasing losses on roulette machines has been my downfall.
Thankyou Mixer for yesterdays Mini Catchup, I loved the quote, " We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give." So very true in many ways.
Guru challengers are united in having a desire to be gamble free. We are, after all is said and done, just ordinary people who sadly lost their way. Now is our golden opportunity to put it all behind us and start living a more fruitful life. It might not always be a bowl of cherries but it it will be a definite improvement on the gambling fiasco...stephen
I've been ready for a career change and now I have to work on shifting due injury. Bottoming out, injury, dislike of current circumstances of my life in other areas... where is this all leading? Gotta keep my head clear. tara2
Hiya Mixer ... count me in please today is back to day 1 for me. Just self excluded myself from the sites I frequented. Love to all x
Date : 20th May 2018.
Location : The road to freedom & the gamcare mountain
Mission : To complete the Guru Challenge, overcome gambling urges and reclaim lost lives.
Personnel attached to mission : Highly motivated, courageous and determined friends who are here to do the business.
Wishing all Guru Challengers a great gamble free Sunday...stephen (15 days GF)
Let's rock n roll .......
** GURU CHALLENGE - Latest ROLLCALL! *** It's Sunday, 20th May 2018
Welcome! And welcome to a few changes to the Challenge … 🙂
Hello everyone! Here’s the latest Rollcall, less frequent than before, but an interesting measure of how we’re all getting on as we seek to become, and remain, gambling free. Remember: willpower, on its own, rarely works, because we can easy abuse that willpower and use it to gamble again.
Therefore, we must implement measures that prevent us from gambling – excluding ourselves and/or restrict our money supply by handing it over to a loved one or trusted friend. Preferably both measures!
If you relapse, then it will always be as a result of insufficient exclusion measures and/or an availability of funds you’ve got hold of. Usually a combination of both!
Of course, to refrain from gambling in the long-term takes more than the imposition of practical measures (although they’ll work). It’s good to understand why you’ve done this and trying to work out, psychologically, what can be done. Hence why counselling, GA, these forums etc. can really help us make some sense out of it.
Remember – we can all go gambling free when we’re skint, because we have no money to gamble with. But we have to start somewhere. It’s being gambling free when funds are available, and how we deal with the availability of those funds, that is the real test.
To me, being gambling-free starts when we have the money to gamble with. It’s from this moment that counts.
For that reason, I’m not going to report the number of days we’re gambling free until we hit at least 30 days. That proves a few wages, pensions, benefits or a least one salary or other income has been received, and not gambled; in other words, you’re really going for this big time.
In addition, as I’ve written before, I will only respond to posts that have been made on this thread (this includes on rollcall). Every poster, whether part of the challenge or not, will always get a personal reply, and our fantastic group is never slow to respond with advice and support too – we’re a team!
I hope you approve of the changes; hopefully, much better than the Radio 2 Drivetime changes made last week – grrrrrr!!
NEWBIES
We welcome, or welcome back, five determined souls (gambling-free days, if over 30, in brackets): DeterminedDan, Troubledgambler, Dmpowell81 (30), Markman, Wardal1979. Great to have you with us and you’ll be added to our net Rollcall list. Do post to us meantime, you’ll get a guaranteed response.
Our GURUs - 300 days or more gambling free!
Phil72 (831) 28 months GF!
Sars27 (352) Heading towards the magical year GF!
Great stuff, gents!
Our ELDERS – over 100 days gambling free!
Rubybaby (296) Thank you for checking in Ruby! And hope you’re pacing things. Being gambling-free means we really can start to slow down a bit as we embrace the joys, and they are joys, of normality.
Mixer – (282) Without my blocks – no access to cash – I would be doomed. I am fervently, almost religiously, sticking to this. My willpower is zero but, fortunately, I have zero access to cash too.
Raj – (274) Debts will clear in time, but during that time there’s a good life to be lived too. We don’t need to be shackled by debt – imagination and a good personal outlook is priceless.
4D – (256) Thanks for the recent check in, 4D – steady as we go, living the life and, if we do happen to think about gambling, just think how great it is you don’t have to do it anymore.
Slotfool (192) Thanks for checking in … I know you’re approaching a time when you’re debt free which means this ‘new leaf’ you’ve turned can be maximized towards that better life that is now in your ***.
Chartom3 (162) You acknowledge the strength of fellow recovering gamblers who, when they relapse, very quickly get back in the non-gambling zone again. You, like me, respect their honesty, recognition of their (our) weakness and that we’re not alone. Doing great, Chartom.
Godoicul (141) The bookies, as you say, will be alright. Online is going through the roof and the massive US market is about to open up. Let’s not shed any tears for them. £2 max FOBT stakes may no difference to us, either. £2 leads to another £2 leads to disaster, as before.
Our STRIVERS (between 30-100 days gambling free)
Lulubobs – (97) Doing great, Lulubobs – and what’s that way that stops you running down that road to hell again? Do share 🙂
Tara2 (67) You’re right, we are all good people. And your last post reminds me of one of Jordan Petersons ’12 rules of life’: “Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.”
John64 (58) You’ve got it. Going gambling free is what we go when we have money, and how we deal with it. The difficult ‘second album’ time. So: the second payday has hit. This is where your gambling-free strategy kicks in.
Notever12 (35) I know you’ve paid a heavy price, like so many of us, with ourgambling. But there’s always a Part 2, and, who knows, if you nail this, who knows if Part 1 cannot be partially reopened for the better.
Mitch91 (33) Good weather, like we’re starting to see, always makes us feel better and here’s where we need to ally that sunshine with the sunshine of being gambling free.
Our Challengers aiming for at least 30 days gambling free
Pink2018 – GO FOR IT! – I’m sorry to hear you’ve relapsed but you’ve been honest with us and that’s respected. Time for more blocks and better cash management; remember, as we always prove, our willpower is not good enough.
Serendipity77 – GO FOR IT! – As I’ve written to Pink2018, above, you know what you gotta do. We’re not going to stop thinking about gambling; especially in the cold turkey stage we’re in. Hence why we need to force our hands with blocks and hand over our cash control.
Stephen the Stoic – GO FOR IT! - As always, your thread is a must-read, the support, vibe and love on your thread really does represent the heart and soul of these forums. I wholly recommend everyone visiting your thread. And you’re right – let’s ROCK AND ROLL!!!!
Christer1 – GO FOR IT! – Not easy times you’re going through Christer – we’re all with you here.
Adam123 - GO FOR IT! – Very, very pleased to witness your serious attempt to refocus after your recent blip. Noted and respected, Adam.
xangel11 – GO FOR IT! - Thank you checking in xangel. You’re right – gambling is a mind problem. Money is simply one damned unfortunate consequence.
jeffutd – GO FOR IT! - You’re right; £2 stakes are better than £100 stakes but the heartbreaking thing for us is – it makes no difference. Even if the max bet was 10p we’d soon ramp up the spend elsewhere as we gravitate to arcades, pubs, casinos and the like. The bottom line is we can’t start, because we can’t stop.
caughtup – GO FOR IT! – Thanks for the check in. And very glad you’re enjoying the weekend, gloriously gambling free!
RESTED – you’re welcome back, just drop us a post!
Martymart – RESTED
HowDidIGetToThis - RESTED
Maisiemoo - RESTED
Soul-searching - RESTED
STATS FOR NERDS: We have 5 newbies this week and 4 rested. Along with 2 GURUs, 7 ELDERs, 5 STRIVERs and 8 aiming for 30 days GF, there are 27 of us on the challenge.
*** JOKE TIME ***
We all like a one-liner. Here are a few ...!
Went to the corner shop the other day - bought 4 corners.
So I met this gangster who pulls up the back of people's pants, it was Wedgie Kray.
I'll tell you what I love doing more than anything: trying to pack myself in a small suitcase. I can hardly contain myself.
I tried water polo once but my horse drowned.
A lorry-load of tortoises crashed into a trainload of terrapins the other day. What a turtle disaster.
'I went down the local supermarket, I said, "I want to make a complaint, this vinegar's got lumps in it", he said, "Those are pickled onions".
Four fonts walk into a bar the barman says "Oi - get out! We don't want your type in here!"
Keep strong and keep smiling everyone!
Mixer
Thx. Mixer... your efforts are helping so many of us to have an added degree of support through this thread. Bravo.
I wanted to post something that I just wrote on another thread because it felt powerful to me. So I'll share it again here. Just common sense but when put into words it adds power.Thinking about repetition really was helpful. HIghlighting the word repetition is helpful to me as a compulsive gambler. Why? Well, I never wanted to think that when I went to the slot zone I was slipping into a mode of repetition. I /we like to think it will be different in some way... each time? Someone had mentioned about the mathmatics of the design of the machines. Of coarse , we know about that, but we want to think that the math ends with us. We are special? No, the math extends , infinately constant as we continue to repeat , as if we are part of the mathmatical system itself... like a robot! zombie! We are not robots. We are creatures of habits and we can become addicted which is even stronger as the frontal cortex of reasoning is short circuited . Let's not be part of the math because we are free humans and we have some help here. Lets use this help to our own benefit and also help others. tara2
Thank you Mixer,
I love what you have done by making this thread I think it has really helped me and many others to see how far they have come since that sad world of gambling addiction we were in. It may seem small to some but it is a big mountain we are climbing here.. to be able to defeat an addiction teamwork is needed and with that we definitely can conquer it, reminds me a bit of my DOE challenge when I was younger lol, teamwork is everything x
So beautifully said Tara ty for your very much encouraging words, love em x
I am so proud of everyone on this thread who is fighting this, makes me have faith in humanity and I look up to you all and am so proud of every one of you, wether you are fighting for day 1 or fighting to stay at 1000 plus.
I just want to begin to love the things in life that truly bring me joy, not just that misconception of it, called gambling. It's hard every day, but one day at a time I hope we will all conquer this addiction and start loving life more x
Hiya Mixer, had a good day today. Self-excluded myself from all sites I had regularly frequented (on doing so one of the sites gave me a code to get gamban installed for free for a year. This is now active on my phone as this was the only method in which I gambled. I will, however, put this on my laptop too just in case twitchy fingers get the better of me. Trying to get my finances sorted, waiting to hear from a friend if they will be a guarantor for me for a loan to get myself back on track. Kept myself busy yesterday and today. 1 day at a time xx hope you are all Ok x
That's a good idea Mixer, to start marking up gamble free days after the first month. It is an achievable target, plus it shows the challenger means business and is not just pussyfooting around.
Guru Challengers know what they don't want. They don't want to gamble because they are sick to the teeth of the misery it has caused them.
According to the Beatles " We can get by with a little help from our friends." Well we're all friends on here and are all capable of completing the Guru Challenge.
Thank you for the update mixer my man 353 GF DAYS 🙂 checking in !
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