Day 1 every morning

This is a great place to start your journey, read through peoples recovery diaries for inspiration and ask for the support if you need it.  You can do it, you have to want to more than anything.  Its an illness an addiction, one of the worse ones out there, but only you have the strength to beat it.

First thing put every block in place you can, gamstop is great you can exclude from online gambling for 5 years, most bank accounts have a gambling block, and if you physically bet minimise your withdrawal limit, or trust in someone to keep hold of your money, and most importantly be honest with yourself and other people if you can, confide in your family, you will be suprised the amount of support you will get.

You've got this

Thanks Deborah! Appreciate your reply.

So I made it through day 1! 24 hrs done.

Watched some good tv and actually watched it, which I haven’t done for ages.

Off to bed and ready to tackle day 2!

Nice to know I want be waking up think oh no what did I lose last night. 

Onwards and upwards 😊

Day 2. Sitting here looking at the financial mess. Nearly tempted to try for the big win this morning. Not doing it. Going to be strong. This is the cycle that I need to get off.

@ladies123 Thats the best frame of mind to have, the urges will come but breathe through them, occupy yourself for 20 minutes and they will be gone, and try to remember you will never win back what you have lost, but you win every penny that you dont put back in

@ladies123 How are you doing?

@deborah270882 not great another 6 months of hell but I'm determined this time.  

I just buckled on day 14 (I have a diary to monitor my actions every day). But... an improvement... not a spiral of multiple deposits and hours lost... but a one off (albeit relatively large) bet. 

So, my instinct this morning... of course... "must win that back, then I can say I haven't lost anything gambling for 15 days... that counts, right!". 

I got my phone out, took a look at the fixtures, opened the betting App... then stopped... pondered. 

How about, instead of starting from day 1, I continue to day 15 but acknowledge the loss... so I'm still on day 15 with 1 bump at £xxx. 

Then at the end of a month or a year, I can say great, 'x' number of bumps this month removed link much better than where I was before, doesn't mean I have to start again, gives a sense of betterment and personal competition (maybe a dopamine hit?), then I can just aim to beat it next time.

This has stopped me this morning... for how long? Let's see. 

My point is... it doesn't have to be day one every day. Monitor your actions, celebrate your positive days. My 14 days without gambling, everything started re-balancing itself... the 'pit' only lasts a couple of days.