CROUPIER - 13 months GF, read my new post on all of the improvements in life since abstaining from gambling

Day 409,

Just realised I broke through the 400 day mark unconciously. I remember counting each day when I stopped gambling for good until the three month mark. Later through the year I had to visit my recovery diary in order to keep track. I do like to think of it now as counting the years...

I feel very strong and have done for several months now. I dont get any urges and hav'nt stepped foot into a bookies for over a year. I do get a sense of good feeling when I walk past one in town and through the windows I can see the same people that used to stand behind me when I was feeding the FOBT's my monthly wage. I cant believe the things I can do with very little money. Theres so many offers out there, you just have to find them.

I dont miss it all 🙂

WOW scrambling massive achievement, 409 days of being gamble free, lovely inspiring post.

Congratulations,

Suzanne xx

I wished wrote:

WOW scrambling massive achievement, 409 days of being gamble free, lovely inspiring post.

Congratulations,

Suzanne xx

Day 410,

Thankyou Suzanne 🙂 I hope my diary can be used to inspire others. The reality is that the rewards are there, it just takes time, determination and alot of effort! Believe me though when I say it is worth it.

I am thinking of writing up all of the things in my life that have changed for the better or maybe just the top 10. Nothing has changed for the worse. I'll give it a think and see what I can come up with.

Take care all,

Scambling

Day 414

I have decided to compile a list of all the improvements in my life since abstaining from gambling. I am still adding to the list so I will update you all with it later today.

Some interesting results in the FA Cup yesterday. I'm sure that 99% of accumulators will have gone down with much of the Premier Leaugue losing. I never use to be able to watch a football game without placing a bet on it and when the bet had gone down I'd usually be heading back to the betting shop to place a new bet. Now I find football more relaxing to watch and of course results dont bother me. This did take a little bit of time to get back to normal, but I'm there now 🙂

Take care all,

Scambling

Day 415

As promised I have compiled a list of all the improvements to my life since abstaining from gambling. I am still fairly early into my recovery having stopped for almost 14 months, however given the extent of my gambling I feel I have come a long way.

This is my list and of course every individual that stops gambling will see different improvements, but hopefully some of the things on here will help you with your own recovery just knowing that it is possible.

This list is in no particular order as this way I can continue to add to it.

-Financially: This is probably the most obvious, however very hard to see as an improvement. For the first 3-4 months I had no more money in my pocket than when I was gambling. Still the same story where the last week before payday I was absolutely skint. This is because I had several payday lenders hassling me for money, as well as several other people. I worked out the best way financially to pay off my debts and of course started with the payday loans. A couple of them when I phoned and explained my gambling problem agreed to freeze the interest and break the payment down equally over 4 months. This saved me a few hundred pounds in the long run and the best thing is that after admitting my gambling problem they refused to lend to me again. The first 3 months were the hardest, as any money I had went towards paying something off. I never had anymore money in my pocket and it didn't feel as though things were any different financially since abstaining from gambling. Another thing I did was create a budget plan over the course of 12 months. I knew exactly where my money was going and how much I had spare for lets say going out for a beer now and again. Possibly the most important feature of being able to stay in control at the early stages was that I cut my bank card in half and gave it someone I trust to hide. This meant that I had to always go into the bank to withdraw my weekly 'allowance' and I could still manage my bank online without the temptation of falling into online gambling, as I had no idea what the long numbers were on the card. The card was still fairly new too and I had not registered in on any website. If this is something that may work for you then it may be a good idea to order a new card first and then pass it on to someone you trust before looking the the card number or registering it anywhere.

-Relationship: Without going into much personal detail, I am happy to say that after a long time me and my partners relationship is just about as good as it could get thanks to stopping gambling. This is something that takes time and something that cant be rushed. If this is something your struggling with then just stick with it. Be honest about how you feel and talk about your problem.

-No Stress: Gone are the days of ups and downs and all that is on your mind is 'how to win your money back.' Blowing your wages, visiting payday lenders, blowing that and then lying to conceal the extent of what you've done until after 6 months of repeating the above, it all comes to a head and you breakdown. Too many times I went through that... Now theres no more sleepless nights, no more lies, no more stories and no more ups and downs. This is the one benefit I felt almost immediately and spurred me on in the early days to keep going. The weight lifted off your shoulders is a great feeling.

-Time: Without gambling, I have lots more time to do with as I please. At first I had to find things to do in order to fill my spare time, which was queit difficult and I felt bored some of the time. A year on and I have much to do with my time and struggle to fit everything in. Gambling just cant fit into my life anymore.

-Better quality of life: This again took time and took several months to see/feel it. As my debts were slowly paid off I had the odd spare bit of money in my pocket to 'treat' myself from time to time. Even going to a pub for the odd beer feels great because I know I can afford it. Many things fall under this section from being able to move house to being able to support myself or just going out every other week. I am happy and my partner is happy and thats all that matters and this has been achieved due to being able to lead a better quality of life.

-Family and friends: This is still a work in progress as they still dont understand the means of what I did and where I have got to today, but I know that given more time that this will also improve and I look forward to it.

-Seeing a future: After many years of just plodding along, we are able to plan our future and it feels great working together towards the bigger picture. There are many things to look forward to and this motivates me so much that I feel I will never fall back into the old routine of gambling.

I'm sure there much more that I could add and I will add them as I think of them. Hopefully by reading some of the above points this will motivate some lf you who have recently stopped and struggling with the past that there is light at the end of the tunnel no matter how hard things may be right now.

Thats all for today 🙂

Scambling

Thanks for this - reading this has helped trying to put my life in order.

Great post. I can certainly relate to a lot and it gives a lot of hope to people.

Lovely post, I can relate to, thanks for sharing and inspiring us all, great idea too to put this post over on challenge 2015 thread.

Suzanne xx

Great post scambling first saw this post this morning and read thru it a few times a real inspiration to us all and something I certainly aspire to hopefully this can be where I'm at a year from now.

Thanks for posting

Hiya

Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your journey and the benefits upon several areas of your life from remaining gamble free. I've recently stopped (one month today) and I've done some of the things you mention. Setting budgets and targets understanding where my money is going and how much I've left 'spare' to spend after bills. This 'spare' money (and more) would've previously been swallowed by the slots.

I hope your relationships with family and friends go from strength to strength as you lengthen the time you've spent gamble free.

Found your post inspirational so thanks again.

Clare x

Day 417,

Thanks for all your positive comments above 🙂 It felt good inside reading my latest post again yesterday. Putting things down on paper really does help and something I recommend we all should do more of.

Have a good day all,

Scambling

Day 419,

What a great feeling it is to finally get through January, that 6 week grind between paydays without scrounging around for every penny. This has always been a rugid time of the year for me especially and I honestly cant remember the last time I got through it without having to visit those payday loan sharks. If your struggling to make ends meet every month then you really should sit down and write out a budget plan for the remainder of the year. This will give you something to aim for and knowing where you spend your money will help. If you have any amount of debt then it may be a few months before you see any real progress, but grind it out, it will work.

I hope everybody managed to negotiate there way through January gamble free. For a fair few being skint after xmas means that having no money to gamble made it that little bit easier. Dont get tempted to jump back to it just because Febuary is a short month and payday will come around again soon. Use this as a stepping stone to build on your new path to being gamble free. It is easy to become complacent, so keep using the forums and get those barriers in place if you havnt already.

All the best in 2015 everyone,

Scamblimg