Relapsed :(

Hi Andrew,

Similar to me, I’ve been clean for around 4 months and the exact same thing has happened to me. Feel the exact same as you and quite honestly couldn’t afford to have lost that.

thought I’d come on here to talk about it because I feel embarrassed to talk about it to others. 

Hi Andrew,

I can see how disappointed you are at what has happened. Try not to be too hard on yourself, nobody is perfect.

You know, when you think about it, lots of people who deal with different addictions, they have a slip up ands its no big deal as the consequences are not so visible. Like a smoker, if they slip up they can restart the next day, all they've lost is the cost of a pack of cigarettes and nobody will ever know. Gamblers have it so much harsher in that respect. Because the consequences of a gambling slip up can be so big and so very visible in your bank account, it can make people feel like they are this horrendous failure when in reality, you are no different from a person who bought a pack of cigarettes, in the sense that you were both just struggling and having a weak moment and that is totally human. If you wouldn't judge and be hard on a smoker trying to quit or any other addiction, and would show them empathy, understanding and kindness, then have some of that for yourself too. 

Nobody is perfect and everyone stumbles sometimes. The stumble is not what matters moving forward, the important thing is how well and quick you can recover from this. What matters is that you don't let this stumble take you down. 

If you haven't already, you can always call GamCare to make sure you have things in place to help you make sure this stumble doesn't turn into something much bigger. 

Lastly, don't let this take away from the amazing achievement of being gambling free for so long. This doesn't cancel that out, you still achieved that and i'm sure that you can achieve that again.

Hannah 

Volunteer GamCare Peer Supporter