Memories from the future

Good man Altair!

Stopping smoking aswell?? Is that maybe a bit too much at one time?? I smoke aswell and want to give up but stopping gambling and betting in the same week is a massive ask!! But you sound strong so Ive no doubt you can do it.

Good luck for day 7

Manup

It's not easy, but I made up my mind about it. No gambling, no smoking.

At the moment the smoking struggle took over, I thought it would be the other way around. No urge to gamble. I will NOT gamble. Last time I tried to quit smoking I used patches, this time I want to do it without them. No pain, no gain.

Every morning I would have my coffee and 4-5 cigarettes with that. Plus my bets. It is day 7 and suddenly I am left with a lot of spare time in my hands. It's incredible how much time I used to spend on gambling and smoking every day! I need to address that, so I won't be tempted to do silly things.

It's funny, I don't know what to do with my hands. Since when two hands became too... many?

I tried to do things around the house, but I'm not really in a mood for that. Yet I know I have to do something to keep myself busy. I'll go to work in the afternoon. I'm going to take my dog out for a walk and hopefully when I get back my mood will be different.

Come on, dog! Let's do something! It's day 7!

altair

Fella another fantastic addition to the forum, your attitude is infectious, when I came to this forum I too attacked my nicotine addiction, folk said it was too much to take on two things at the same time, but in honesty my quitting the nicotine was not on health grounds purely financial, I had to take a serious look at my finances as I had a mountain of gambling debt that had to become number one priority.

My advice on the two fronts take all the help you can, I used the nicotine replacement gum and it worked, today I eat/chew a mountain of regular gum a week, smoking is for me the biggest challenge I faced, the physical addiction hard to break, like your counselling there is help out there for smoking, I went to my gp and got referred,then paid prescription prices for the gum.

Two years on I look at the prices of a carton today and that is enough to show me that I made the right choice, £60+ a week in the bank rather than me burning it!!!

Somebody once told me it takes 21 days to break a habit, leaving the rest of your life to deal with addiction.

You are making all the right moves, keep doing what you are,through it you will gift yourself a chance to continue being the one in control.

For that be proud, enjoy it.

I hope you enjoy the walk with your dog, since I embarked on my journey I have rescued two whippets and the joy they bring is a joy to behold.

Duncs stepping forward never back.

Hi duncanmac,

Thanks for being here. I am still reading your diary, I am half way through it. Keep it up, mate! Keep it up!

Having a pet helps a lot when facing such moments. I love my staffie and he loves me. It makes your day, especially when you reach home after a bad day at work.

It's not my first attempt to quit smoking. I tried that before (mainly on health grounds). Now I'm also in financial trouble due to my gambling debt, it just feels the right time to do it. I'd be healthier and 'richer'. Thousands of people quit smoking everyday by dying, I don't want to get there because of this. And I need the money I used to spend on cigarettes (more than £300/month). I will not smoke again, it's a filthy habit.

Things are settling down somehow. My wife is not as mad at me as she was a few days ago, we are talking about this and we hope we can overcome the situation. I wish I had to deal only with my gambling addiction and not with the gambling debt. Bloody hell, £60k on loans and CCs is gonna take serious time to clear. But I started to make adjustments. I will get a better idea about how I am doing with it by the end of next month. In the meantime I booked myself in at work for the next weekend, that would bring some extra money in. Not much, but it's a '+', not a '-'.

It's quite hard to make extra money from home, the world is full of scams and people dreaming of easy money. Not long time ago I thought that sports bets would do that for me and look where I stand now. I was a fool but I won't let that happen again.

I have to be strong and get over it. I won't find peace until I see it done. I know it will take time. But there's not much I can do about that. I need to focus on things that I can change. Gambling/smoking is a great thing to start with, if I arrest those two I think I will do fine, planning for the next step.

I'm going to work soon. I really like to wake up every morning with such a job. Sometimes I forget putting my socks on in my hurry to reach at work. I mean, I love my job, but at times the routine is killing me. And today is that day, I know exactly how it will be. Please, let me be wrong about that, amaze me!

My mood is changing again. I'm dying for a cigarette. But I won't have it. No smoking. No gambling. Go to work!

Busy afternoon at work, got lots of referrals today and I had to deal with them. At some point, I wish I was right about the routine I predicted for today.

I went out for a break, now I would have had my cigarette. I chose to post here instead.

I love London, it keeps you busy and that's what I need now. Stay busy and stay clean, away from my addictions.

Hi Altair - Glad things are looking a little less bleak, especially the relationship with your wife. I agree with you about London - walked over Westminster Bridge today in the sunshine and thought Wordsworth got it about right, although were he to come back today I think the London Eye might give him a wobble - would probably think it was a torture implement. My journey over the bridge took me to St Thomas's where I saw my one-hour old new grandchild - bliss! Now if that's not an incentive for me to keep 'clean' I don't know what is....

Good wishes.

Joanna

Congratulations, Joanna! That's definitely a happy event for you and your family and I'm sure it is a very, very strong motivator. Be strong.

Beautiful poem, I wasn't born here and I don't know too much about English literature, apart from what I've learnt in school. But you made me look for it. Nice.

Awesome day today. It made me think of one of The Kinks' songs, I don't know why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZZEJvwdmLs

It's day 8 for me gambling free. Also, I didn't smoke. It is quite difficult to keep track of 2 counts, so I'll cheat on my smoking counting, from now on it will be similar to my gambling counting.

This morning I was thinking that I really enjoyed gambling. Moron! It felt strange thinking that I will never have to gamble again, it made me realise once again that I am sick when it comes to gambling. Not the very pleasant feeling in a lovely morning like this, but I think I can live with that. I have to.

The Gamblers Anonymous website is still offline (maintenance work). Yesterday the admin was saying that they'll be back on the 15th of March. That's tomorrow. I'm working late shifts this week, but I am looking forward to attending my first GA meeting next week. I hope it will help.

Ups and downs. The weather outside is not really a mirror to my feelings at the moment. But I'll get there. I have to.

Take care everyone.

It's here. But I will NOT gamble.

good lad stay gamble free pal , im happy for you

Keep going Altair - you can do it!

Day 10 gamble free. It feels good. Really good.

I cannot say the same thing about smoking. d**n! I had a cigarette yesterday. When I realised what I did, I stopped it. I thought I could do better than that. I KNOW I can do better than that. So why did I have it?!?

Bad habits die hard and I don't feel good thinking of me and cigarettes. A few P***s spoiled a week without smoking. That's bad, mate! That's bad, shame on you!

I use an electronic cigarette now. Just for a while. It doesn't feel like smoking and I miss that, after 15 years of being a smoker. I have to quit smoking completely. I feel so weak for this fight...

Happily, all this time I kept myself out of gambling. I feel tempted to gamble at times, but I won't do it. I think I would feel completely lost if I'd ever gamble again. I know what I felt when I cheated on my smoking cessation, I don't want to know how will I feel if I had a relapse with gambling. Only the thought of it makes me feel scared, panicky.

Don't you ever do that again, mate! Stay clean and stay focused. And quit smoking as well!!!

Good on yer, Altair! Glad you are feeling good about the non-gambling; as for the smoking, well at least you didn't get through a whole packet! Best wishes.

Joanna