From here to a year

Hello Sharon. Hope you are having had a lovely day celebrating your amazing 300 Days Gamble Free.

So very proud of you as it is a wonderful achievement. You have certainly come a long way on your journey.

I asked my angels to bring you a nice bouquet of flowers. You probably won't be aware of them, but as they will have the angels blessings you might notice their delicate fragrance wafting around.

Take care...stephen

Hi Stephen, have had a very busy day but felt joyous that I have gone from feeling utterly hopeless in every way to feeling like a semi normal human.Days 0-100 were intense and I felt extreme emotions about anything and everything. I feel so incredibly grateful to this forum and it's members, if I wasn't here who knows where I would be now? I obviously regret gambling but I have learnt a lot about myself over the last 300 days possibly more than the rest of my adult life. Thanks for everything and let us continue our journey united against gambling take care x

Whoop whoop!! Well done Sharon 300 days - fantastic achievement.
I aim to follow in your footsteps.
Wishing you many well-deserved happy days!! : ) x

Amazing to see Sharon, brings a tear to my eye of happiness x

Thank you Who am I, great to hear from you and hope all ok? Sx

Morning Sharon. Hope your having a good weekend.

Just been reading through your diary looking for ideas to strengthen my resolve and to recognise my weaknesses.

You have experienced all the negative emotions that I would associate with coming off the gambling addiction. Sadness, regret, shame, anger, fear, loneliness and bitterness. All typical withdrawal syptoms but you have coped very well.

What I did notice though was some very positive traits. 1/ You have always remained positive about your recovery. 2/ You have beaten yourself up but at the same time you have always known that despite the gambling you were a good person. One who didn't deserve all that misery and heartache. 3/ You came to see gambling as harmful to you and your family. You understood the damage it had caused and recognised it as detrimental to your life. 4/ You have been careful not to harbour any affection for the addiction, many of us have fallen by the wayside when the addiction masquerades as a friend and draws us back into the nightmare. 5/ You have always tried to remain positive and kept your sense of humour. 6/ You have shown compassion and understanding. 7/You have kept your recovery simple and to the point. 8/ You have never put on any 'airs and graces,' what you see is what you get. 9/ You have recovered your self respect and confidence but you don't take yourself too seriously.

So that's what I've got to work on so I had better get on with it. Take care and keep kicking them gambling demon dudes up the backside ...stephen x

Hi Stephen, thanks so much for this flattering post. ..blushes. I f I can help anyone in anyway possible that makes me happy. I didn't realise quoite how deep in the s*** I was really until I joined here, faced up to reality and decided to stop wasting my money and time on something do pointless and destructive. The journey has pointed things out that I had forgotten 1) Everyone deserves to be happy 2)Gambling csn trap anyone 3) No matter how grim things seem there is a way out. Your post really has made my day, so a thousand thank yous and here is to us all striving to remain GF, hugs Sx

Can't top that Stephen. Way to go!

Day 305 Feels like things are slotting into place a little, day by day, 'Cycles are made to be broken, one of the best ways of breaking out of a tedious pattern is to refuse to accept the inevitable ' I stole this from my horoscope but it'S spot on! Happy Monday Sx

Sharon I really like that " Cycles are made to be broken, one of the best ways of breaking out of a tedious pattern is to refuse to accept the inevitable."

We make the same wrong decisions time after time, through habit it becomes the norm. How many people when told to do something differently cry out in anguish - " but we always do it like that."

I remember when stopping smoking that I moved my furniture around. A small step but changing my routines made it easier to weaken my smoking habit.

I just listened to Bob Dylan singing "And the times they are a changing."

Thank you Sharon. Take care and have a good week...stephen x

306 days, look at you go girl!

Fantastic effort. Sorry I haven't been on much been a very busy time!

Hurtling towards a year GF, keep it up Sharon.

Matt

Thanks Matt!! Yep, feeling stronger every day but reread my diary and others to reinforce why we need to stay GF, take care my friend S:)

Thanks for the comments on my diary, you are a really good person always offering encouraging words to everyone its well appreciated by me and others, staying GF is just the start, then its about building all the other parts back that mostly gambling has knocked down, but enjoy doing it and it infuriates the gambling mind. Thanks again.

@ineffable thank you, odaat is the way to go! Best wishes and here's to a GF year and beyond 🙂

@smashed You are welcome! I'l be eternally grateful for all the help and encouragement I have received here. At the beginning I really did feel there was no way out of the gambling cycle but by posting often and reading other diaries it'S been a slow but sure journey. Take care my friend Sx

Morning Sharon. Hope your having a good weekend.

Since I first came across your diary I have never doubted your courage and sincerity, but I have worried about you at times. You have often put a brave face on when things got you down, but made light of the struggles you had to endure. Not only have you battled the addiction alone, you have been a rock to your family and friends including those of us on the diaries. Your daughters welfare has certainly been at the forefront of your mind, and the major factor in your decisions. You have faced up to inner conflict and emotional turmoil whilst confronting both the gambling addiction and personal issues.

Take care my friend and thank you for showing what can be achieved through hard work, courage and determination...stephen. x