Life With Sports Bets Only

Hello captain46 and all,

I understand that some of the posting here has recently has drawn some mixed reactions.

I find that the forum etiquette is a useful guide to posting on the forum, as it reminds us that the intended purpose of the forum is the very constructive one of sharing peer support... it gives clear instruction that we should aim to be considerate and respectful:

"• Please show consideration and respect for other users and for their opinions.

• Be sensitive to how your messages may be viewed and perceived by others".

It can be challenging, refreshing and creative to share differences of opinion. On the forum, many users enjoy debating different points of view, respectfully. It is possible to express disagreement with good will rather than hostility. Surely living well involves learning to take good care of ourselves, including how we're feeling and how we're relating to others.

http://www.gamcare.org.uk/pag…_and_rules_of_engagement.html

The GamCare advisers are available on the freephone 0808 8020 133 and the Netline, if there are times when you would prefer to express your feelings with an adviser.

Take care all,

Adam.

Adam

read and acknowledged.

Cap,

I hope all is O.K. with you and look forward to reading some of your posts soon.

Tomso.

Thanks for the post Tomso. I am fine and my abstinence from random means my life is not being impacted by gambling at all.

To those who follow my diary and recovery progress and communicate with me amicably -

I have written to Gamcare with my concerns about the current usage and governance of this Forum. I know some of you share some of my concerns.

Morning captain

Hope ur doin ok it must av been quite a difficult day yesterday with ur diary and theory been hot topic with the new debating thread

Hopefully now people at aired their views a line can be drawn underneath it all and move on from it always remember its ur recovery ur life and that's what's important

Keep posting

Castle2

Feel so good at the moment, better than any other time during recovery I can remember, still need to guard against complacency though.

My only regret this week is that my post on my diary which instigated World War 3 could have been better worded. (although I did reword it after noting it had caused offence.) It was never posted to provoke a response anyway, merely a frustrated reflection to myself about the content of other diaries.

I had closed the subject matter on this topic but have to briefly re-open it after being directed to the posts on the 'debating thread' via reading a post on Tomsos diary. Perhaps not surprisingly the first topic on this thread has been about controlled gambling and the communications which followed my post. I note there are many direct references to me. I just want to say a big thank you to Castle and Tomso for providing objective and defensive viewpoints on the matter when other posts were continuing to throw darts at me. (Would appear it is ok to do this on this new thread as opposed to on individual diaries. hmmm got to smile.)

Also Tomso has raised the points re no-one being forced to read any individual diary, to act on what they read, re many diaries containing posts which are not all gambling related and re many other posts being far more inappropriate than anything I have posted. Thanks for that Tomso, hope you dont get abuse like I did, but then you wont because the crux of the matter is that Tomso is going for complete abstinence. Unfriendly responses I receive arent so much about what I post but because of my recovery stance.

Anyway, I was first to post on the new 'debate' thread but I will not be reading it or contributing to it from now on. As per my original post there, I feel a user should not be allowed to start such a thread. If it is required it should be proposed to Gamcare as a new topic. The recovery diaries area should be for individual diaries only. (I had same view on the 90 day thread thing and there have been threads started 'just liked the title' and the like - these are not diaries, just someone P****n about.

My recovery continues on a basis of me electing to spend £200 a week on sports betting. This is done as a preference to spending the money on cinema, pub or other forms of entertainment that people spend money on. If I win it is a bonus but I budget for losing. My problematic area of random gambling is behind me. Let me re-iterate - for me, stopping random is the same as someone completely abstaining from all gambling - bottom line - we are both dealing with our problems.

I continue to wish everyone on here well in their recovery, Yes even those who have abused me.

Pleased to continue my abstinence but I'm in the groundhog day jail. Most weekdays are the same and weekends from 500 Saturday till bedtime Sunday night are a killer with only reading, grocery shopping and rubbish tv.

Think this is my sentence for bad life choices and running up £200k of debt gambling.

Used gambling as a get out of jail card to relieve the monotony over the years. Brought me memorable times but also hellish days of losing everything.

Estimated 10 years in the groundhog day jail. Maybe I'll get some time off for good behaviour if I continue to abstain.

Watched a couple of races today. Smiled at those gambling on them. This is an important part of my recovery that I am able to do this. Cant believe I wasted so much money over the years on this stuff. For each part of my recovery where I have completely 'closed the door', I have not gone back and participated again. I could never have gone cold turkey when I first admitted a problem 5 years ago. I have had to do this my own way, chapter by chapter, door by door. All doors are completely closed except sports now.

Stressful day ahead. Gambling relieves stress like nothing else can. Would love to gamble today. Many days like this in the past gambling has helped me through them.

But the door is locked and I've thrown away the key. So I have to deal with stress in the more traditional ways that others do.

Not getting any urges but it may be a long time before I dont automatically think of gambling as the way to relieve stress and boredom. Gambling is still the first thing I think about every morning and the last thing I think about at night. No surprise after more than 20 years of it being the dominant force in my life. But whilst it used to be bets placed and planned in my thoughts, its now memories and regrets and acknowledgement that I will always wake up every day as a compulsive gambler but I dont need to act on it.

8 weeks of abstinence.

Agree with those who say the more distance you put between your last bet and now, the less urges you get. Been a while since an urge now. But still want to gamble every bit as much as I did 56 days ago.

Morning captain

Well done for sticking to what u think is right and still posting. It must be very difficult esp with such many strong views surrounding ur theory and diary

I av to say its made me question my own reasons why I read and support ur diary a few comments I av read bout the reader hanging on to that thrill of gambling and living in hope that ur theory could work or who's the fool for following the fool all personal opinions I might add

for me though I don't fully agree with ur theory but I do respect it I know it won't work for me but then its not my recovery. I just want to offer u support as a fellow Gamcarer who is trying to rebuild their life I firmly believe if u were doin something major wrong Gamcare would step in and remove ur diary

Its a real difficult one and av to say it saddens me I know it would be much easier to not to post and get involved with ur diary to not cause conflict but that's not my intention all it is is to give u support and don't go fully back to random gambling

Whilst ever u post I will support b4 all the mayhem of last week u had many supporters who agree with a lot of ur views and helped them in their recoveries I hope after all this they will still carry on

I really hope all this is will quiet down now so we all can continue to better our lives

Castle2

Yo,

Good to see you doing so well , I have written my thoughts about something you wrote on your last post on my diary .

Rather than clog up yours .

Have a good day

Shiny xxx

59 days of abstinence.

Some people just find life isn't great for them at some points through no fault of their own or in my case where you make rubbish decisions that change your life and you can't reverse them.

If you gamble to escape from a dull, boring and stressful life and you stop gambling, the rest stays the same. You just don't lose all your money.

If you already had a good life and found yourself spending all your time and money gambling, then yes you will see the benefit of abstinence more. Not sure why people in that situation found themselves so enthralled in gambling in the first place though.

Hi Captain... I agree with your last post. I guess I fit the category of

"If you gamble to escape from a dull, boring and stressful life and you stop gambling, the rest stays the same. You just don't lose all your money."

The only thing I would add is that "in not losing my money".. I gain stability and peace of mind. I no longer live on the edge of another life crisis. I'd like to think that in time I will find ways to reduce stress and live life a bit more fully.

Anyway good stuff on your abstinence... S.A 🙂