A new journey begins.

No matter where u are in your recovery journey the fact you are on this forum and reading this means you are on the right road. I am now just about a year gamble free and could not have done it without the help of the people on this site especially in the early days. So merry Christmas everyone and hope you all get what u wish for.

Hi mate, not on here much lately but just want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a great 2016 , hope you are keeping well.

Well here i am at 1 year gamble free. The longest i have ever been gamble free since starting to gamble.Also 4 days untili reach my first full calendar year of my adult life.I have found my life has changed so much in the last year. Things i had been chasing for years just seemed to happen. Not all totally down to not gambling but definetely a major part. I now understand myself as a person and totally motivated by different things these days. My circle of friends has increased as i no longer shut people out and no more sulking after a heavy loss which i could not tell people about. All of my close friends and family know now that i am a recovering gamble but have spared them the grief of how bad it was. I am now in a healthy financial state and do not need to worry about when my wages go into the bank anymore. But the crazy thing money is not what motivates me now. My family, my health, my friends and having a good work to life balance is what i care about now. I have said since the start of this year i felt different and was really determined that this was my year. I am not stupid enough to think that i am cured not by a long shot but i am not going to spend precious time worrying about what may happen in the future asi am having the time of my life now. I know how bad the other world feels and i do not see any reason in the world that will drag me back in. I would just like to thank everyone who has helped me on my journey. I know i dont post much now but still come on now and again to catch up with some peoples doaries. A special thank you to ade, GT,bornagain, I wished, chatroom3 and James. U have all been really helpful to me at some point in the last year. As they say up here in Scotland hope yous all have a braw new year.

Congratulations Gregg on reaching the 3% club:)) it is an amazing achievement.

You have a braw New Year too, :))

Suzanne xxx

Great post mate glad your life seems so much better now, reading about your journey over the past year has helped me big time and i hope to one day be in the same frame of mind that you are now. All the best to you in this new year and keep up the good work and stay in touch.

Hi Gregg,

Thanks for dropping by on my diary mate. Well done on reaching that whole year gamble free. I did it, then promptly f*cked it up by thinking I could dip my toe back into those gambling waters. How WRONG I was eh.... Please learn from my mistake.

Stay on the recovery/abstinenance route....its far better for sure.

Keep strong bud, and thanks again for dropping in on me.

All the best

Ade

Well here i am back after 600 days i thought i had cracked it. For the past couple of months i have been back gambling. Only small bets at first then gradually fell back into the machines. Fortunately i have not lost much money but have lost my self esteem and feel c**P about myself. So have decided to draw a line in the sand and get back to basics and start over from day 1 again. I will be writing in my diary most days even if just rubbish to get the gambling out my system again. I have loved my gamble free 18 months and everything that has happened in that time and cannot believe i fell back into the trap. But theres no point dwelling on the past and once again start a new journey.

Day 2 completed. No real dramas just trying to rid my body of this bug and get back on an even keel.

Day 3 completed. Day spent on my own then went to the football. Plenty of opportunities to gamble and none taken. So will call that a victory to me today.

Well done for not giving in to temptation today. Sorry to hear about your relapse but it's good to hear you're back on track.
It's amazing how bad gambling can make you feel about yourself.
You had 18 months free from it and loved life. To get that feeling back you know what you have to do and it sounds like you're more than capable of doing it.
All good wishes