49 days gambling free

Hi folks. How time flies. It seems like only yesterday that I made my first step towards a gambling-free life. Now, seven weeks have gone by and I am still on the wagon. In two weeks time I will receive my third paycheck since quitting, and I intend to keep it all. Funny how the power of the triggers seems to fade, and then suddenly gets strong again. At times like those, I stop and think about what is going on in my head and, happily, I am able to resist the temptation. Never has to mean never. I have noticed that one of my strongest triggers is when I have to spend a large amount of money. Three weeks ago, I had to use up two weeks of annual leave. I calculated how much I would need to spend on a holiday, money that I don't have owing to humungous gambling debts, but money I have accrued in credit, having paid some of it down. This kind of calculation has always been a big trigger for me to gamble, and I always lose the same amount I would have spent on the holiday, and often much more besides. This time I paid for the holiday and decided to imagine I had just lost the money on the wheel and was facing two weeks at home. In my head, I waved it goodbye in the same devil-may-care manner that I would have if I lost it. But this time I had a holiday to show for it. And what a holiday! On the last day, as I was driving back to the camp, I saw eight or nine giraffes galloping across a vast savanna, and said, could this place be any more beautiful? As if to answer that question, a rainbow appeared, which brought tears to my eyes. And if that were not enough, the moon then rose above the horizon, and shone pink in the sunset. This is the reward for not gambling. Actually spending money and getting something for it. It has been so many years, I had almost forgotten that that is what money is for.