Day 14 GF

Congrats on hitting the 2 week mark Tom, that is no mean feat. You have started now and are going well. Talking yourself out of a bet shows good strength on your part. Take it day by day, use the forum, try to keep busy bud. You can do this.

Afternoon Tom and welcome to the forum :)) .

Firstly well done on your first two weeks gamble free , I know only too well how difficult that initial decision to stop can be , so kudos to you for that and coming on here and admiting the same :)) .

As you go through this " Recovery malarky " you'll begin to realise that it's not all about the money side of thing's but I was just like yourself in the early stages unable to believe just how much I still had in my pocket at the end of the week by not gambling and infact I did a quick calculation the other day based on me now being just over two yrs gamble free and at a loss of just £30 a day how I've saved myself over £ 22,000 which is a stupid amount of money just to have thrown away , in honesty though most day's my losses were far higher so I really don't want to go there ! .

Your first week was probably not too difficult as you were on your holiday's and kept busy and in answer to your question regarding advice I'd probably say Keep doing just that , find something new to focus on to use the time you spent gambling ? anything really , taking up a sport , an evening class or just going for awalk or to the gym maybe ? as long as it distracts you you wont have time to think about gambling so much :)) I threw myself into decorating the house and catching up on stuff I'd neglected while activly gambling , I also focused on my business which again had suffered neglect but is now doing great and if I'm honest I'd really struggle now to find the time to gamble which is a huge thing for me as I was in the bookies 7 day's a week as that was the most important thing in my life and my partner and my kids alway's got pushed further down the bench !.

Posting on here helps too , you can build up some good back and forth sessions with other likeminded folk who are alway's happy to offer advice and pick you up when the day's are not so good and Mr Gamble starts whispering sweet nothings in your ear :((

You'll probably be wise to look at self exclusions to keep you a little safer so if you go to bookies to gamble you can self exclude by either walking in with a photo and just fill in a form, it's a bit embarrasing doing the first one but quite empowering when you realsie your finally taking some control back , there's also a national exclusion hotline that will do it for you once youve provided the relevant info I haven't got the number to hand but if you need it it's on the gamcare site or just ask and I'll dig it up for you . If you gamble online there's blocking software you can download too , gamblock and netnanny are two that spring to mind and work by not letting you access the gambling sites , you could also speak with your internet provider who'll be able to set parental controls :)) .

Does anyone else close to you know about your gambling ? , the only reason I ask is because gambling loves secrecy and if others know and support you then it doesn't have anywher to hide :))

Everything's doable Tom just because we have a gambling problem doesn't mean it has to control you forever and you have the power and ability to make huge changes to your life with abit of effort and determination 🙂

I'm sure I'll speak to you again pretty soon but until then stay safe :))

All the best

Alan