Another Diary

Hi Dave,

Im not able to offer any advice, but i do want to wish you all the best, I have today started another diary, but this time i want it to be the one that counts! i'm in a positive frame of mind right now, i know this won't last forever and the urges will come and go, but hey, im going to give it my best shot to over come this gambling problem. I like you am a compulsive gambler and have no control over it what so ever, deposit deposit deposit, win, higher the stakes, balance zero, debt mounts up. Don't give these people anymore of your money Dave, draw a line in the sand now. Let today be the start of the rest of your life.

Wishing you all the best.

Mylife86 🙂

Found it difficult to drag myself out of bed today, another gambling hangover & feeling sorry for myself. Hard to be positive when you`re a serial failure at trying to kick this. Anyway haven`t gambled today, had to fight the urges as voices telling me to gamble myself out of the s**t I`m in again, but what`s the bloody point, only leads to bigger disasters.

Way to go Dave...

Day 1 almost under your belt :-). There is no such thing as gambling our way out of the mess, if there were, we wouldn't be here! Keep strong, keep fighting the urges & put up as many blocks as you can to break the Time-Money-Location triangle. I have about 3 decades of gambling under my belt & it's hard, bloody hard but we owe it to the people who come after us not to fund the hell holes that will suck them in too!

Be safe, be strong & just for today, choose 'No' - tomorrow may be another today but you can cross that bridge when you get to it - ODAAT

Thanks ODAAT, I`ve also spent best part of thirty years fighting(and mostly losing) against this addiction. Think that makes it worse, I should know better by now, but my willpower is pathetic& I fold at the slightest urge. Hopefully yesterday was the last time in a very long time that I will see the inside of a bookmakers.Had to laugh at Chris Kamara telling me gambling should be fun & at the same time the shop was advertising free go`s on the FOBT to hook the next generation of addicts. f****n hypocrites.

C'mon man, where's your fighting spirit? You must have more willpower than you realised as you managed to fight off the 1st wave of attack by the urges.

Day 2 now?

Made it through day 2 without any dramas, meant to be going out tonight but a) no motivation to socialise with anyone b) have exactly £5.82 to my name. I can either sit here & mope & gambling wins again or get my a**e in gear & try & cadge some money. Put some blocks in place, I`m now totally reliant on other people for funds so hopefully, though this doesn`t address the issues why I gamble in the first place it, it might keep me safe in the short term.

Good skills 🙂

Who cares what the reasons are at the moment, keep chalking up the wins as you try & figure out blocks to keep you in this beautiful gamble free place. Assuming that the new day starts @ midnight, I make this the start of 3 in a row!

Thanks ODAAT, start of a new week, no cards, little money, what could possibly go wrong!!! Need to confess latest fall to other half, which no doubt I`ll keeping putting off. Quick to blame everything else for my gambling issues, slow to admit & confess my own failings.

Let`s put this in perspective, 30 years of gambling(badly) minimum loss per year £4000, plus effects on work, family, relationships, health.So why is it so difficult to accept I`ll never win, move on & try & live the rest of my life in a relatively normal manner. Maybe because I`m surrounded by the effects, shabby house, clapped out car, holes in my socks, and I feel gambling owes me a big win & then some. Anyway that was yesterday, today will be a good day & I will not gamble.

Good luck Spud, one day at a time bud

Hi spud,

Well done for for coming back

Best wishes

Suzanne xx

Thanks Miller & Suzanne, Day 6, no thoughts of gambling, impossible anyway with no access to money. Stick £500 on the table & it would stay there, always easier when giving up gambling is at the forefront of your mind, harder battles to be fought when recent losses begin to fade & the voices start telling you one little bet won`t hurt!

Shabby house, clapped out car & holes in your socks sounds awful, how about: roof over my head, an old faithful that gets me from A to B & socks that air your feet?!?

I think we get so bogged down in feeling sorry for ourselves when we lose that when gambling is out of the equation we look elsewhere for our pity. Gambling doesn't pay it's debts, it doesn't need to because we forgive it & keep treating it anyway! My mother has gambled since I was a baby so add her 2 decades to my 3 & that makes half a century, she doesn't have her own house, drives a car that I bought her & wears my hand me downs never having bought herself an item of clothing in my lifetime.

This is not what I will become! We are here with support from total strangers because we have been able to admit we were failing - fortunately this is not an exam so we get to keep working & one day soon, we will be normal - ODAAT