Fresh start, adapting to a gamble free life

Day 87

Hi Dickyo, its good to hear from you again and sorry that you've had a slip. This is part of the recovery process so don't feel too bad, the main things is your back on here at the right place.

Got a week off work this week so been working hard on the house today to try and get it finished. I have a very tough bike ride planned tomorrow, its only 35 miles but loads of steep climbs - cant wait! Very important to keep busy even on my week off.

I have had a number of strong urges to gamble this weekend to bet on the football. I was really considering putting a small bet on but I know this would only lead to bigger bets and bigger problems.

Hanging on.....

Thanks for reading

Jimbo

Hey Jimbo,

Found your thread mate.

87 days man, thats absolute brilliant. On top of the 100 days you were clean last year. You defo have it in you pal, its just about trying to forget they urges and know that you would lose anyway if you bet.

Take the weekend for example where you said you fancied a small bet, you prob would have had either Man city, Man United (Prob not tbh), Celtic, Juve, Hibs, etc on a line and one of these teams would have let you down.

Gambling is just so unpredictable, its all luck really mate and i think you could make your own luck. Thats what im going to try and do anyway. Screw relying on a footballer, golfer, a dog, computer or a little ball to give me the life i want, we can achieve it ourselves.

A quote a picked up from you in an earlier post was,

'Finances still a mess but must remind myself gambling is not a quick fix to this, it is the reason i'm in this mess.'

That's***t home with me man, because no matter how much i feel, aw one big win or if i gamble well, i can get out of this debt hole but then think about it... Thats whats got us into this financial mess in the first place. Why will this time be any different. It wont!

I believe in you bud, your girl clearly does too boss. Keep on track mate.

Take it easy,

Drew

Day 89

Wow what a thoughtful post, thank you so much Drew! You are so right about the thought of a silly bet on the football, and yes i would have lost anyway 🙂

I love your analogy of making your own luck by keeping hold of your hard earned money. There is no risk otherwise. Gambling, especially with a compulsive personality is too high risk with little or often no gain.

Even after nearly 100 days gamble free, I am still very much tempted to go back to my old ways, a post like this gives you a huge boost to carry on the battle.

Thanks Drew, thanks everyone else for reading.

Jimbo

Day 90

Cars gone in the garage today. gutted. This will put the debt repayment back a little. On the flip side, if I was still gambling I would be in a right mess now. I also remember the times when I needed to pay out for something unexpected and looking at all sorts of ways to pay the bill. Don't miss that panic!

Been on my bike today, only 20 miles but very windy. Good opportunity to clear my head and think about like which i think it important.

No thoughts of gambling today, enjoyed deleting an e-mail from a casino.

Take care and thanks for reading

Jimbo

Glad you had no thoughts about gambling today mate and deleting casino emails makes you feel brilliant. I got a free bet email a couple of days ago, binned it and will not be logging on to use my 'free' bet!

Sorry about the car problems bud, but at least its not a problem created through gambling you know. That's ordinary, real life stuff which although is crappy when it happens, its also brilliant its a normal life - If you know what i mean - Its not the reason of gambling your car has issues (Usually our problems always stem from gambling)...

Right good effort on the cycling pal, Clearly that helps massively as its keeping you and your mind healthy. No danger anyone was cycling up my way yesterday tho bud, genuinely would have been in the north sea!

Keep going mate, your doing class.

Each day brother, each day!

Drew

Day 95

Thanks again Drew. The issue with the car turned out to be a lot cheaper than I thought - by about £350 cheaper which is a bonus! You're right Drew, very nice not to be a gambling related problem. Haha, the weather has been awful hasn't it!

Working loads at the moment so no thoughts of gambling, just plodding on. Keep looking at the debt situation which seems to be a regular daily feature unfortunately. It's not good but just got to be patient with the repayments.

Thanks for reading

Jimbo

JIMBO,

Roll on to day 100 mate!

Looks like everything is ticking over nicely

Onwards and upwards!

Hanz

Day 97

Still plodding on and looking forward to getting to 100 days. I am treating myself to a new bike for hitting this milestone. I'm going to try and reward myself every 100 days as an incentive to carry on with the fight. There is nothing more satisfying that spending my own hard earned money on myself instead of donating it to some rich bookie and lining their pockets.

Keep up the fight peeps

Jimbo

Hi Jimbo,

Good to see you're still on the gamble free route and approaching that 100 day marker. I also tend to go for little rewards when I reach particular milestones, and I think it not only helps to remind us why we're working hard and avoiding gambling, but also brings the gambling back to the forefront of my mind and helps to emphasise why we want to be gamble free.

Keep spending that money on yourself and not the bookie.

Ryan

100 days yesterday Jimbo!!!

That's amazing! Reading peoples success stories on here gives us all hope.

Dickyo

Day 107!!!

Thanks a million Ryan and Dickyo for your kind words of support.

I did it!!! 100 days gamble free and still going strong. Very much down to certain people on her providing lots of advice and kind posts.

Wanted to post on here during my 100 day mark but was with the girlfriend most of the week. Really made up with this and keen to carry on this way of life which is so much happier than my depressing gambling life.

Thanks for reading

Jimbo

Well done Jimbo. Roll on 200!

Onwards and upwards,

Hanzsolo

Excellent stuff Jimbo

I'm on your trail now mate. I'm using you as my motivation!

It is possible! Stay strong, think positive and keep busy!

Dickyo

Nice work Jimbo, hope that 100 marker feels good, and that you enjoy that new bike. Well deserved and hope it can continue to motivate you to keep away from the gambling and to keep pedalling forwards.

Well done mate,

Ryan

Day 110

Thank you so much Hanz, Dickyo and Ryan for more kind supportive posts. I'm so happy i've got this far and still feel good about the future.

Still get urges from time to time, especially when the football is on. My evil gambling subconscious always tries to convince me to put a small bet on but luckily these urges don't last long. I just have to think about my debts for them to disappear.

Working 9 days straight after picking some overtime up. I don't mind this too much as I get a good feeling that I'm repairing some of the damage caused by gambling.

Onwards and upwards, its never going to be an easy journey but if it was we'd just revert to type.

Take care you wonderful people, life's for living

Jimbo