Dilemma

Russ,

Great to see that your posts are so positive. Interesting - your thoughts about the shares - I think that is because we will always have the mindsets of gamblers. The crucial thing is that we no longer act upon those thoughts.

Life - as a result - becomes so much more meaningful.

All the best

Hatch

It's Saturday morning and the sun is out, the kids are with the grandparents and we have just enjoyed a wedding in the lakes. Life is so much better without gambling....no worrying about horse results or football scores, no sneaking off to place bets during the wedding, no stress about telling little lies here and there. I'm determined never to go back to my old ways.

Russ1,

Your last post sounds really good. Well done on your journey so far. You are dead right about how good life is without gambling. It's definitely not a straight forward journey though. All those moments we spent gambling being replaced by 'quality time'... it's a no-brainer when we look at it now.

Well done again.

Brian

Russ,

Thanks for the post on my diary - much appreciated.

Just read your last post - so positive - so full of optimism and you've every reason to feel that way. Its amazing how we see so much more of life, and enjoy it more fully, when we're not gambling. One of my favourite quotes is "there are none so blind as those that fail to see" - never used in in a gambling context before but I now think it applies to us gamblers so much. There is so much going on that we either blank out / ignore/ or are just not interested in when we're gambling!

Well done for turning that round Russ - your reward is your new life mate!

All the best

Hatch

Sounds like real normality in your life at the moment Russ.

And long may this continue!

Getting there

Russ...thanks for your support mate...i didnt mean for my post to be having a go at guys like yourself who have great support from there loved ones.i think the more people who know of our problem the better it shall be..once again thanks for your encouragement in what is defo a rocky patch of my recovery...nobody said this was easy eh...sorry and Keep encouraging others (in my view it helps our own recoveries) ...best wishes we can do this 😉

Hello Russ.......... just parachuting into your diary.. Good reading your positive postings and you're continued strength..

The lakes a sure great place to be, my folks from windermere and across in Maryport. Favourite peolpe cumbrians with a great outlook on life......

onwards and upwards

Hi Russ.

Cheers for posting on my diary mate.

Glad to see you are still going strong. If only we could say the same for Everton!

Hope your golf is continuing to improve. I've got winter league starting this weekend which i always enjoy.

Come on team Europe!!

Thanks for your posts folks. I'm in Edinburgh this evening with work. I've had real pangs towards gambling this evening. Let's just say I was never going to do it but the feelings were there. I'm at my most vulnerable when I'm on my own away from home. I know this is habit and it's something that just needs to be ignored. I have ignored it so there's not a problem. I was just surprised that it's still there even 7 months down the line. I'm never ever going down that road again. I stopped gambling as I had reached my own rock bottom.....this was not monetary related, more relationship based. I had been lying and deceiving my wife for five years. My family and marriage was at stake, which in my opinion is greater than any sum of money. My marriage is back on track and I will not put this at risk again. I still believe that going to Vegas and not gambling was a huge turning point. I will not gamble ever again.

Hi Russ

Thanks for the post on my diary, funny how or brains work init!! Negative thoughts turn into cravings for a little flutter, it wont do any harm our brains are telling us...but hey we know thats cr**. Family far more important, your certainly right there!!

Anyway i hope you are ok, i believe how ever far we are in our recoveries the urges will always be on the back burner ready to scold us. So guess we are just going to keep our guards up...permanently!!

7 months gamble free is great work and i hope you are very proud of yourself!

take care mate, ands

Good evening all. This is the second night I have been away this week with work. I'm in a sleepy town in Scotland. I've just had a row with the mrs which has come from knowwhere. I feel pretty deflated. This time I didn't consider my behaviour as being suspicious at all. It's pretty tough to take but I guess I created this problem so I have to live with the consequences. I've taken everything that we have discussed as a couple and really tried to make a change. I'm sure things will be better tomorrow so I just need to get on with things.

Thanks for your support russ...seems every time your far away something happens with your mrs...is it that trust thing again ?? Im sure youll sort it out like you said.,best wishes we can do this 😉

Good evening, all is well here. Looked after the kids whilst my wife spent a day in town with the girls. The argument of Wednesday has been forgotten. In fairness it was nowhere near as bad as the previous one 2-3 months ago. As such, I feel progress probably has been made. It was good to see the toffees winning for the first time in the premiership.....it was even better to see Liverpool in the bottom 3! No gambling, or any thought towards it. Long may it continue.

Glad that you had a lovely day yesterday. These recovery journeys can be full of ups and downs can they?!

But as long as there are far more ups than downs, we'll be OK!

GT

Russ,

Good to see you doing well. You know this better than I, but those arguments like Wednesday last, I guess, will continue for some time. The great thing is that with you still in recovery they will be like a spark without no fuel to ignite the fire. Therefore, the argument will fizzle out (once the basis of your relationship is sound, which it sounds like it very much is).

I'm a typical no-talking male.... just keep the head down and get on with it type. Myself and the wife never had the need to REALLY communicate. We used joke about how true it is that men are from mars and women from venus. Women are talkers I think... talking through emotions.... arguring about a subject when the real issue is something different, and we are expected to understand 🙂 It's about not giving that fire any fuel through not gambling and despite it being hard, just not letting rip.

As we all know, it is about going along with it. Not so much just going through the motions, but trying to help our partners to help themselves (and us).

Hope things are better again with you Russ. Aparently, from diaries on here (Jac and Gull991 and others), things do get better. I guess they would have to really. That's the goal, just keep riding the bumps.

Hope mrs Russ is feeling well. This posting is full of the most obvious stuff in the world, so I'll stop now.

Take care,

Brian