DAY 1

My debts are finally kicking in!! After nearly 2.5 weeks without gambling i'm now feeling the backlash of my troubles. I owe my parents ВЈ500 and they desperately need it. Ive been searching the width and breadth of my financial interests and coming up blank! I have ВЈ250 which I can give them but are still £250 short, with petrol for work required next week as well!! Pay day is a week Friday so I have SOMEthing to look forward to!!

Gambling not only affects you short term but has its obvious knock on effects... I despise it SO much, I hate what it has made me do, sacrifice!!

I will come out of this unscathed eventually and so glad i got out of this whilst i was young! But also realise others who are currently leading happy lives and maybe older than me will get bitten by this bug somewhere down the line. With the immediate growth of the internet I believe the UK should take a U.S stance and BAN all online gambling!!

The fact most can't see in tangible the amounts of money there whittering away is a dangerous problem!!

Hope everyone is staying strong!!

Cheers,

Ryan.

P.S THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE HELP AND COMMENTS!!

Ryan,

Brilliant work on the 2.5 weeks. I hope i can stay that long....

As for the debts - i am a abit older than you and owe thousands. I feel that the thought of it is almost the worst thing about it after giving up. But look forward as thats what i try to do. Imagine yourself this time next year if you havent gambled - you will be in such a better position wont you? Thats what i try to think of when the debts get me down. And when you are likely to live for another 60 odd years you have a lot to look forward to.

Well done again on giving up....

Cheers J!

Advice is a massive help..

Good luck with those debts and practice what you preach 😉

R

Hi Ryan! Great job on 2.5 weeks! I'm glad to see you staying strong and trying to remind yourself of all the trouble that gambling causes.

I know that you will pay your parents back as soon as you can, and soon be on your way to a debt-free and gamble free life!

Way to go, Ryan!!

Love, Anna

3333333333333 weeks and No gambling!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHOOOOOOOOOOO!!

😉

P.s, still skint though.... pay day next week!

So, its been 4 days since my last gamble and although my life has changed significantly since my last post back in October 2007 (a lot of positive in some ways and negative in others) I'm still a compulsive gambler.

Since my last posting my career has really taken off which is really positive. I am now a home-owner (which was put in jeopardy many times due to my gambling problems - but managed to muller through, just) but the dark cloud is still evident.

My biggest downfall is like most people with the FOBT's.

Since October 2007 I must have fluttered away an absolute extreme amount of cash on these things. Even more so since my career has taken off and my earnings increased (doubled in fact).

That's been my only saving grace really and why I still have a roof over my head and adequate life-style, the fact I earn considerably.

I can only imagine where i'd be if gambling didn't occupy a large stake in my life.

In the last few days I have taken to watching a gentleman on youtube called James (Dairy of a compulsive gambler) who has been been greatly effected by his gambling habits - His diaries are extremely grim watching and provide and dark/honest synopsis into the world of a compulsive gambler.

Watching these videos has really inspired me to make a second go at stopping gambling.

I'm 31 now and was 25 when I wrote the last post on my awful gambling habits.

In this time I attended my first GA meeting around 3 years ago which I felt simply wasn't for me.

As stated in my last post i'm still pretty young, single, and have my full life ahead of me where I do want to start a family eventually and settle down. But, I'm not 25 anymore... I'm 31 and really need to kick off with my life now and put this behind me.

3 days of not gambling.

Ryanx

dood welcome back to this site , you don't need gambling we both know that so do everything you can to give yourself the best chance of staying stopped. Have you self excluded if not get it done now there is no shame in selfexcluding , self exclude from every account you have , every bookies and online site casino and all linked sites , and you need to keep posting on here even after weeks months years , this is the first time I have used this site and I only done about 3 weeks just over but seriously coming on here it kinda lets it all out a bit like crying to be honest you know like when you cried and then feel better after , well coming on here posting on other peoples sites writing your own diary reading advice you get off people on your diary , it helps bigstyle and just like crying you feel better after I would not of stayed stopped without it , and it is still quite time consuming but saves me money and heart ache so worth every second , I still now think I would like to play roulette again , but I cant I just cant and I wont as I know even if I did beat it for a bit ,i would not be able to pull myself away permenantly and would always carry on , until I hit a point where I lost all winnings and lost original amount I started with and then lost more and then lost more and more that I could not afford to loose and that is why I will not put any more money on this addictive evil game and industry , we cannot gamble because we cannot stop so there is no point in starting, I wish you well and if you need help just ask , people like duncanmac and others seem to have abstained for a few years or more so if you are serious have a chat on there diary with them I know they would be all to happy to help , another thing maybe with years gone by and you have still been struggling to stop aswell as selfexcluding maybe give your cards to someone mom dad ect.. as we are like children with this addiction so we need to treat ourselves like children , exactly like we cant sometimes trust ourselves with this addiction this is the same as children are in a sweat shop , be strong and keep your guard up, ps something somebody else does on here brill idea , he/she cant remember who that have a direct debit going into there moms account then she saughts all bills rent ect,, and only gives him pocket money after that way no excuse to gamble remember no shame and also it will give you breathing space to move forward and save you money and heartache , thinking of you simon

Cheers tryer - much appreciated. 4 days in and still a long way to go - Had 100.00 in my wallet all week and managed to stay clear of the bookies despite walking past one on the way to a food shop earlier this week.

Looking forward to lasting a full 7 days,

So, 10 days have passed since I have last gambled and what a fantastic 10 days it has been.

Passed another one of my finance exams which I had previously failed, putting in some serious time at the gym which is always good to preoccupy me from the gambling urges (you need an ultimate distraction and the gym is great for that) and also taking out a beautiful girl in the next week or so that I met over the weekend.

Trick now is to really bounce on from all of this - I've had money in my pocket the last 10 days and have really had the urge on a few occasions to gamble but only to the point of a 5/10 urge. Keeping away from this horrible mindset is key for my recovery and enjoying what could clearly be an amazing life if I let it.

Work is going well, socially things are going well and now I need to protect my earnings and actually build a life for myself.

Good luck to everyone trying to be this horrible disease that's hampered my life since being a young lad.

If any recovering gambler is to do one thing today, go onto Youtube and watch the 'Diary of a compulsive gambler'... James, the author shows the lows gamblers take themselves to (even to the point of wanting to take his own life)...

Be strong and if anyone wants to chat directly about their gambling habits or just wants someone who they can relate to drop me an email on [email protected] and i'll happily set time aside for a chat.

Thanks,

Ryan

Hey Ryan well done mate enjoy the date and start enjoying the things in life that matter of course gambling is a huge buzz but its totally false destroys life's and leaves a trail of destruction the buzz will appear again when gambling fades with the things in life that matter 🙂

The bear

Cheers mate 😉