Lets Do This!!

Hi Bazzza

Well done on starting your diary. I am sure you will receive lots of support from the members on here.

You are taking the right action now to stop yourself gambling further. Blocking your access to where you gamble and to the money that you have available to gamble, asking for support and finding new ways to fill your free time.

Learn from today and don't beat yourself up. Ask what events led up to the lapse/slip. Ask yourself what were the excuses you gave yourself to gamble and dispute them. Your commitment isn't broken and you can renew your resolve. If you do slip, the outcome does not have to be an experience without worth, it can be a powerful learning experience. It does not mean that you will repeat this behavior in the future.

Please keep posting on your diary and let us know how you are doing.

Best wishes

Forum Admin.

Hi Bazza,

I'm relatively new to this site, forgive me for not tracking your journey thus far, however, you made it 6 months without a bet, that's absolutely fantastic and you should be really proud of that achievement.

For me personally, and please do not take this as a personal attack, but I believe that those adverts are there for gamblers who can control their gambling. We, on the other hand, are different. We're on this site because we simply cannot control our gambling. Therefore, what you have to do is ensure that 'the fun' they are talking about in the adverts, never actually begins. It's easier said than done, but you mde it over 180 days without a bet, and this time around you've done fantasticly well to surrender your easy access to cash and gambling websites, well done.

I have every faith you can go above and beyond that 180 days. Relapses happen to us all, but it's being able to learn from them and coming back a stronger person that will enable you to beat this addiction once and for all.

Take care

Ryan

Evening Ryan/Gamcare

Thanks for your kind words and honesty. Ryan i have just finished reading your diary posts so when i just read your post on my diary i was pleased as a lot of what you have gone through I could totally relate to.

You make a great point about the advert being for people who can control their own gambling, For me i have no self limit I could start betting £5 a hand on blackjack and within half hour i could be chasing my losses and I am betting £100 hands.

I know i am totally out of control with gambling and i also know that it needs to stop before it ruins everything that i have and love.

I am very scared of being able to carry this through as although i have put a lot of things in place and i mean self exluded from my 3 local casinos BT parental control, k9 on the phone and handed my bank cards over to this mrs tonight but like any addiction if you try hard enough you will find a way... Not me Not this time.

Im looking forward to the next few days, weeks, months to get my old self back

Thanks

Hey Bazzza just spoken to you on chatroom. Dont beat yourself up. It is very difficult and we are all here in very similar positions. You've proven to yourself that you can do it and YOU can do it again. You've blocked yourself which is good. I have admitted to myself that I am a CG so need to be on my guard always. Its been two months for me and even though it is easier i do get a few night when i would love to close the door and gamble away. Because of blocks I cannot. It was online that was an issue for me so i am never tempted to go to a bookies. I intend to use this site for many years to come. It makes me feel safe that i can write things down without being judged. Keep focused

Hey Bazzza just spoken to you on chatroom. Dont beat yourself up. It is very difficult and we are all here in very similar positions. You've proven to yourself that you can do it and YOU can do it again. You've blocked yourself which is good. I have admitted to myself that I am a CG so need to be on my guard always. Its been two months for me and even though it is easier i do get a few night when i would love to close the door and gamble away. Because of blocks I cannot. It was online that was an issue for me so i am never tempted to go to a bookies. I intend to use this site for many years to come. It makes me feel safe that i can write things down without being judged. Keep focused

Hello again Poblwc thanks for your support and it was great talking to you on the chat room i hope to have many conversations with you on the chat and on my diary over the next coming weeks/months.

So last night was a tough night i couldnt get off to sleep and i finally got off about 3am and was back up at 6, Over thinking and then over thinking even more was the probable cause. Anyway today actually has been very different i could sense myself accepting what i had done yesterday and started feeling positive about my whole approach to beating this problem, The only time i felt down was on my lunch hour in work where i started to crumble a little but i quickly snapped out of it and went back to work early and kepy myself busy. So now i have been in the house on my own now for the past hour and instead of thinking about gambling i find myself thinking about what else can i do to help me try and beat this problem and what else i can do to change the way i live/think and act.

Day 2 is going to be hard as it is my day off tomorrow and this is when im at my biggest risk of gambling so i really need to start making some plans for tomorrow.

Thanks for reading

S

Wpps sorry hit wrong button and pressed 'flag as abusive' cant undo sorry

Was trying to write - well done and keep up the good work. I want to here what you have been doing tomorrow please. Dont give in. Think of your forum for tomorrow night and what you would like it to say. Write it down and say it out loud to yourself. You might think you sound silly but hearing it out loud may help to motivate you.

Tried to go on chat to cancel 'the abusive thing!! But no answer!! Sorry!!!

Bazzza wrote:

Hello again Poblwc thanks for your support and it was great talking to you on the chat room i hope to have many conversations with you on the chat and on my diary over the next coming weeks/months.

So last night was a tough night i couldnt get off to sleep and i finally got off about 3am and was back up at 6, Over thinking and then over thinking even more was the probable cause. Anyway today actually has been very different i could sense myself accepting what i had done yesterday and started feeling positive about my whole approach to beating this problem, The only time i felt down was on my lunch hour in work where i started to crumble a little but i quickly snapped out of it and went back to work early and kepy myself busy. So now i have been in the house on my own now for the past hour and instead of thinking about gambling i find myself thinking about what else can i do to help me try and beat this problem and what else i can do to change the way i live/think and act.

Day 2 is going to be hard as it is my day off tomorrow and this is when im at my biggest risk of gambling so i really need to start making some plans for tomorrow.

Thanks for reading

S

you got a plan for today?

Day 2

Hey both thanks for the motivation and your supportive words it really has helped me today. So today really has been a breeze in regards to thinking about gambling or even gambling at all, I think the only thing i have thought about today is guilt of gambling again and again. But I keep saying out loud 'Its gone their is nothing i can do about it...move on'

So today i really have taken positive steps with keeping myself busy, Met up with some old friends went to go and see family and finally got the motivation to tidy the back yard which has been a mess for a long time. So tonight it is now 7.30 and im just waiting for the chatroom to open and then the mrs will be home and its past the finish line and onto day 3... Back in work for day 3 so should be another succesful day as when im working i can completley shut off from the outside world.

Thanks

S

Day 4

Evening all, Day 4 is done and dusted and im feeling positive. No real urges other when the advert comes on for all kinds of betting, it just reminds me of the amount of money ive lost to this addiction.

Looking forward to tomorrow because day 5 will have arrived

Good Luck everyone on your recovery journeys

S

Hi Bazzza

Well done on day 4 and soon to be day 5, one day at a time we can do this.

Bex

Day 7

Hey Bex thanks for the support means a lot 🙂

So this time last week was when i hit rock bottom betting like crazy until in the end i lost a lot of money and i finally said enough is enough, So today is day 7 and in about 2 hours i would have completed a whole week without gambling...Wow it has been hard espiecally these last two days with so much time on my hands it was hard to stop my brain over working... ' If i just had one more go to try and get my money back' 'look at all this money you have lost'

But progress must have been made for me not to have acted on those thoughts, I was paid on Friday and i had the money to spend. Thank God this week i have made the right decision.

I have got this little self motivation that every day i right on a small post it note the date and the amount of days since my last gamble and i have a little compartment in my car so i keep them all in their, It just reminds me and gives me a little pat on the back.

Bring on the next 7 days!