Bens diary

Hi Ben and welcome to the forum , Good advice ? just stop mate as it only gets worse .

At 21 , your young enough to turn your life around and more importantly turn your back on gambling for good , in a yearyouv'e got into 3k of debt , so just imagine where your gonna be in another year , two or three years , you won't win because you can't stop and thats what being a compulsive gambler is all about , you can't walk away with a little win and be happy anymore , you think your going to win again and will play and play till its all gone and then borrow more tokeep on gambling .

Youre partner already knows about this , so the best thing initially would be to hand control of all your money and finances to her , let her see all bank statements and cash machine withdrawls , you then become more accountable and not just to yourself anymore !.

Self exclude from anywhere you gamble is another good move it then restricts where you can run off to for a punt , the main thing is about you though mate . You have to really want this and find the willpower to see it through , your'e lady's given you a chance to change , so think long and hard before having another bet , is it worth losing her and your child for the sake of a quick bet ?.

I wish you well buddy , keep posting and chatting to others on here !

All the best ......................Alan

Hi Ben,

Welcome to the site.....you will get loads of good advice and read similar stories to yours on here.

My advice is that at an early stage you need to get as many blockers in place as possible. Self exclude from anywhere that you can....hand your finances over to someone else to make your access to money much harder. That way even if you have the urge, gambling will be very difficult if not impossible.

Sounds like you want to stop and that is a great place to start. Confiding in someone is always good as well cause caring around everything is a massive weight to have on your shoulders.

People deal with their gambling addictions in different ways but I would recomend stopping any sort of gambling at all.....as eventually you may end up in a similar position.

Lastly have a ready through some of the diaries in here....I find they really help.

Good luck and I wish you well

Can anyone tell me if its best to go to GA meetings as my closet one is around 30 miles away from me and dont want the temptation of going out with money to get the train
thank you

Hi Ben , I'm not qualified to speak about the benefits of attending GA as I've never been down that route , However many on here have and some pretty long term abstained at that so it obviously works , you could speak to Dan , day@atime or Oldham and many more who will speak highly of that choice of recovery . It's still going to involve willpower on your part whichever route you choose , it's about what feels right for you my friend , your journey and your recovery ! Sorry I can't be more help .

Hi Ben, I regularly attend GA and find it a great help talking with people who are in the same boat. A lot of people think it is just old people sitting around but it's so diverse more and more young people like you are coming through the doors.

As for the money for the train try and plan it so maybe you girlfriend buys you ticket in advance. I can not recommend it enough I think you have nothing to lose by giving it a try. I talk a lot about GA in my diary and day@time has a great thread in the overcoming gambling problems section all about GA which is well worth a read.

It was the best gamble I ever took plucking up the courage and giving it a go

KTF

Thank you everyone for the advice
I think im just gonna go for it nothing to lose and i really hope there more people my age going to the meetings
3 days in and feeling determined roll on my main gamble the so dreaded friday