I today needed to go to a major supermarket to buy food (dad had lent me money to do so) I walked in saying to myself your here for food only, not scratch cards, I walked in and the first thing I see was scratch cards, a line of people queuing up putting lotto on and one guy telling his mate how he’d just won £1000 on a scratch card, great.. just what I needed to hear, I briskly moved away from the kiosk and carried onto the meat aisle with my trolley, walked around, stocking up on healthy food and the odd treat food, got to the cashier and my bill wasn’t bad, less than I thought, oh look £60 left to myself that would have gone on food. Now the old me would think I’ll go spend that on scratch cards and get back the money I’ve spent on food, never used to cross my mind I could lose it, I chatted to the cashier for a bit and she could see something wasn’t right so I told her I’m a recovering gambling addict and I was worried about walking past the kiosk to get out of the store, she understood and got security to assist me out of there, massive improvement to myself, I walked out with my trolley of delights and had my head held high, it was almost as if I could hear a crowd of cheering people in my head with theme music playingÂ
I then got into my car after loading it, drove straight home and jumped on hereÂ
early days still, but baby steps and all thatÂ
I’m made up with myself today 🙂Â
Dear @acorn83,
congratulations on your achievement today, you should be really proud of yourself, this was a difficult test.Â
What is particularly impressive is your willingness to ask for help and making the most of it. This is truly inspiring, and hopefully the positive experience from today will help you feel confident to ask for help in the future in a similar situation.
Keep up the excellent work and enjoy every step of your journey.
Wishing you all the best,
Eva
Forum Admin
Well done mate that’s really good baby steps but keep it up!!!
Well done - great start! Enjoy your food!Â
Thanks so much peopleÂ
I’ve done it again today, went into a petrol station and the cashier asked me if I wanted my usual scratch cardÂ
I asked them to ban me from buying the cards and explained I’m in recovery, they agreed to this 🙂Â
Thats brill, well done.Â
Stay strong. 🙂Â
Â
You should be very proud of yourself!Â
I used to struggle with scratch cards. Horrible things... you literally can’t get away from them as they’re everywhere but I suppose you can choose to not buy one and you’re proving you can do just that! Keep up the good work Acorn83 I’m right behind you...
Em x
Thanks so so much em, I agree they are literally the worst as at least there are blocks in place for online and bookies, none what so ever with this cards, as it happens I’ve never even been phased by bookies or online gambling, it literally doesn’t Interest me, but these cards are the worst, yes.., I’ve been twelve days without buying one but ultimately my real test will be when I next get paid, all that money in my bank account and boredom aren’t the most ideal combination, I’m really going to try to make my monthly wages last from now on and looking back, if I don’t buy scratch cards I’ll be ok I think as all of my spare money went on them in the pastÂ
I mean I’d sooner be bored and have money than not be bored and buy the cards, boredom’s the biggest curse I think, I’ve already joined a gym to sort that boredom out, and I’m working silly long hours, my boss thinks I’m doing these long hours and overtime to help the business when in reality it’s to stop me gamblingÂ
as for debts I’ve zero from gambling but I do have previous debts from my marriage which wasn’t caused by any gambling, we were just a bit silly with nights out etc, so I’m going to try to chip away at those, I’m not talking much debt just £80 here and £75 there and most of my creditors have all offered me settlement figures so i would be silly to not accept their offersÂ
We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.
