Had enough. Time for change. For good!!

Cheers Dan mate, your comments are really appreciated.

If I am being brutally honest, Friday night just gone would’ve been a lot lot tougher without the knowledge that I’m registered on Gamstop.

A really tough few weeks at work, culminating in a horrible Friday in the office, and so I needed that shot of escapism. Those old feelings were right there at the surface once more. For the first time since my GF period started, I think I would’ve succumbed to temptation if I was able to. I thought I was beyond that,I suppose it just serves as a stark reminder that it’s lurking, always waiting, waiting for an that vulnerability to reveal itself. Fortunately, GAMSTOP did the trick. The gradual realisation that it won’t be so easy just to register and gamble any more and within 5 minutes I was back to logical thinking. Phew.

Incidentally I was reading some posts on this forum and came across a thread about some people’s gambling activities leading to them having a CAT6 black marker being put on their account and on their credit file. It’s the credit equivalent of being convicted of being 4 times over the drink drive limit and trying to get insurance again after the ban. Shocking banks can do this with little recourse and another reason never to deposit a penny again at a gambling site. It would extend to my business accounts as well and would no doubt end up being disastrous beyond thinking about.

Hi Caughtup, thanks for the nice words.

It was rinse and repeat Friday last week but with more effort from me to derail my achievements this time around.

After another tough week, I got home and spent nearly an hour trying to register on several new gambling websites. I saw it coming but was seemingly powerless to stop myself doing it. I had already justified it with the usual logical “Just a little gamble, it’s been a tough few weeks, I’ve done really well keeping off it for this long and I can afford it now”. Perfectly reasonable and logical sounding thing to do if it wasn’t for the fact that I am a compulsive gambler and I know deep down that I wouldn’t end there, win or lose in that session, I’d be back, time and time again, wasting valuable time and money, becoming increasingly stressed, unhappy, helpless, demoralised and skint. I knew all that yet I was determined to find a site that would allow me to gamble once more. Crazy...

The goods new is GAMSTOP works a treat because I simply was unable to register or deposit. Eventually I gave up, in one sense a bit deflated I was unable to get to gamble but my overwhelming feeling was that of a sense of relief and happiness that I wasn’t able to.

Online slots really are my thing / my nemesis, so I don’t envisage me looking elsewhere for a fix. I am not interested in real casinos or the bookies. Slots in service stations are what I will have to be on my guard for now, but the pull of these are only a fraction of what I get from gambling online, so hopefully that will be ok.

Anyway, 163 days gamble free today. Happy with that!

Hi Ukds69,

Well done on 163 days gf, and glad to hear GAMSTOP is really working for you.

It sounds like you need to look for a way to unwind after work, especially on Fridays. Wanting to switch off is normal and can be healthy. But it is important that this switching off happens in a way that's not going to harm you. And gambling will.

Have you thought about finding a hobby? Something creative, where you are making something? This might be something quiete alien sounding, but there is a lot of research that is investigating the benefits of creative hobbies on body and mind. The fact you have to focus on what you are making will help you swtich off from what happened at work and because you've made something with your hands it will also boost your self-esteem. Its worth trying a few things to see what it is you will enjoy doing.

Keep focussing and keep posting, checking in can be very helpful to measure how far you've come.

All the best,

Eva

Forum Admin

Hi Eva, thanks for posting, it is appreciated.

I’ve got hobbies coming out of my ears 🙂 Gym, running, surfing, karting,Triathlons to name but a few and a very busy work life!

I have discovered there is absolutely is no direct substitute for gambling. The specific buzz is unparalleled. That the problem.

The good news though is GAMSTOP really works and keeps me from straying when I get a quiet moment and fancy going online to gamble

I need to start posting again more regularly. Complacency had set in and my guard has been let down over the past few weeks

I need to keep reminding myself what a destructive no good awful thing gambling is. Why I stopped in the first place. And why I no longer want anything to do with it, for the rest of my life.

Back to being fully focused to staying gamble free!

171 days gamble free. Richer and happier as a direct result. It’s a no brainier really...

So much for posting more regularly then 🙂

Just logged in and was shocked to to see my GF days tally. Wow, have I really done that!? The answer is a resounding YES!

GAMSTOP has been an absolute game changer for me. It has stopped me relapsing when I needed my dose of escapism. Being GF for so long has got me out of the habit as well.

The real test came when I was on the road recently, on my own for a change, and I went into a Motorway Service Station. It flashed through my mind to go and play some slots but it was never even close to being a serious consideration. That is definitely progress.

220 days gamble free. Most pleased with that.

Life is good. No gambling, that’s why.

232 days and counting...

Absolutely brilliant mate. I’m really pleased for you. Keep smashing it mate.

Thanks Dan, much appreciated.

On holiday skiing this week. Thinking back 12 months and I was in the same resort. The difference being (apart from having much better snow then), I was gambling on online slots, this time I am not.

241 days gf

It’s getting easier.

The odd blip but this in itself is becoming a habit. I don’t want to reset to day zero and start this over again.

#@&# off gambling, you are not needed in my life

Gamble free for 286 days and counting. Next milestone 300.

Hi mate, hope you’re doing well.

You’re closing in on that magical 300 days. Have you noticed a significant improvement in your life, well being etc?

How was your skiing holiday in December? Did you have a good time?

Hi Dan,

Good to hear from you. I see that you are doing really well at the moment. Keep up the great work!

Yes, I would say there has been pretty significant improvements.

Money in my account, which is not burning a hole in my pocket. Instead of constantly spending money as I earn it and leaving the bare minimum, I’ve now got money building up. Lots of debts as a result of decades of gambling but I’ve managed to consolidate them well and paying off a a decent rate.

Also, my credit score has gone through the roof. With a couple of new zero percent credit cards for balance transfers and me now only using about 5% of the available credit on all 3 of my cards. Wow, what a difference in less than a year.

It’s also nice to periodically stop and try and put myself back where I was a year ago. I then fast forward to where I am now and i5s always such a great feeling. When I do have stress and bad days at home/work I often remind myself how much worse things would be if I was still gambling. And as we know, that one (like a stressful week) often used to lead to the other as well!

I would also say that every day further on makes me more resolute not to have a relapse and reset from zero again. I’ve always felt the 100 days is a dangerous milestone. I think it is because we are so happy to get there we relax, take our eyes off the ball and end up doing the one thing we should never do. Reward ourselves with a ‘harmless’ little gamble. I’ve seen it often on this forum and it nearly got me. That was a tough period but I can now honestly say that I have shed the habit for a new one, the habit of not gambling. And it is truly life changing 🙂

We had a good week skiing thanks. Just enough snow and I came home uninjured, always a bonus!

304 days and counting.

Next stop 350

It’s been a while since my last post on this forum. I had the greatest of intentions to keep posting more regularly, good or bad, but it just didn’t work out like that.

Anyway, I’ve just logged in and seen my Gamble Free tally. Wow. 1,007 days and I’m pleased to report, it is correct, I haven’t had a relapse in the intervening time.

Clearly the last 10 months or so has been a good test of my resolve, so many trigger points been, gone and not been acted upon, but I do believe I probably would’ve sucked me back in if I was in the early days of giving up. My resistance/awareness/determination has been slowly built up in that time. I have also developed a new habit, a habit of NOT gambling, weird as that may sound, it’s true.

A couple of years ago or so I discovered slots apps. I eventually found one in particular and have played it, on and off, ever since. It fuels my need for occasional escapism. Albeit I only spend a fraction of the time on the app compared to when I was gambling on real money slots, I just play them now occasionally in my ‘relaxation time’. The beauty is that there is no mechanism within the app to actually gamble. Yes I can, and occasionally do, spend real money getting playing credits but it’s always small affordable amounts and is no different to virtually every other app out there, where you can buy items etc. If you look at it logically, it makes no sense as I am spending money with ZERO chance of any return, unlike playing slots for real! But that’s my point, I discovered, shortly after starting to play them, it was never about the money in the first place. I quickly realised that I was getting exactly the same buzz using these non-gamble slots apps as I did on the real money slots.Yes I knew it was a risk when I started, would it lead me back into real gambling? Well, proof is in the pudding, nope not at all. In fact... it has added a further layer of protection, in giving me that unique buzz without the risk. This is probably not for everyone and I wouldn’t have tried this in the first few months of giving up, but it’s certainly worked for me.

Right now I am further away from wanting to gamble than I’ve ever been. I’m still always on my guard though of course, that urge is still there, just extremely suppressed. Every extra day that I do makes me more determined not to ruin the streak and go back to day zero.

33 months ago I made a commitment never to gamble again in my life, once I accepted that something really ‘clicked’. Retrospectively I can now see that all my previous efforts were in vain because I had never TRULY accepted that I intend to never gamble again in my life. 

Life remains sooooo much better gamble free. As bad as things in life can get ( and I have just recovered from being very rough with Covid), I always try to force myself to imagine how bad it would be if I was also gambling on top of it. And doing that always helps makes things seem better.

1,007 days gamble free and the next milestone is the 3 year mark!