Moving on..Day 1 and on

Hey Alex,

Hope all is going well on your journey, stay strong, things are looking up for us.

Chicagoguy

Day 75 today. Very happy to have gotten so far. Thoughts of gambling for me are very few and far between now. I'm still on my guard, but the further I move from the last day I gambled it makes not gambling easier. I feel like I have a sense of control back in my life, which just hasn't been there for nigh on two years. It's good to be bet free.

Best wishes to everyone here. We can beat this!

-Alex

Hey Alex,

Congrats on day 75, thats great! Very true statement, the further we get on our journey to a gamble free life, the less you think about the act. You become more focused on your new way of thinking and what you want to do with your new gamble free life. Stay strong, and I wish you the best.

Chicagoguy

Yes, it's late. I had nap earlier, but bed soon anyway. Think it's day 80 today, which I struggle to believe. I'm amazed that there was me back in December, thinking about continuing to gamble and leaving this place. How glad I am that I've stayed for the long haul and kept on going even when things were really tough early on. My life is changing for the better based on this decision to stop gambling and will continue to do. I still need to tweak this or that, and everything isn't always perfect (is it ever?), but right now I'm balanced and focused. Onwards to day 100 and so on. I am the master of the urge, it is not the master of me.

Bet free, happy and focused.

All the best

Alex

Hi Alex

Glad to hear you are still doing really well and forging ahead in your abstinance. I'm loving the fact that you are now the Master and not your gambling!!

Take care and remain strong.

Feb.

Hey Alex,

Well said, and much congrats on your outstanding achievement! Stay strong were beating this.

Chicagoguy

Thank you, chicagoguy. Hope you're doing well, mate.

Being so long without gambling now, reminds of that point I've had with not smoking before, where you question to yourself why you put yourself through it in the first place. Though equally, I must say, as a smoker again I'm more than aware of how easily during moments of weakness we must stay on our guard of over this addiction also. My gambling days are over, I think to myself, but then I started smoking again after quitting for so long about 5 years ago.

Anyhow, with smoking...I've cut down, tried to quit but haven't managed it yet. I will though. I'm really run down at the moment with an infection of some kind and again I'll try to use this as the moment I say goodbye to smoking. Giving up gambling has made my resolve stronger and I feel I can do it now...Friday 13th March is my official quit day for smoking.

Doing well, despite feeling a bit crappy health wise.

-Alex

Well done Alex blimey December the last bet great stuff mate hope your reaping the benefits and not constantly worrying about gambling I don't miss that myself , hope you feel better soon mate take care

The bear

Hey Alex,

Well done on your continued sobriety, your doing great. Get some hot chicken soup and dumplings, and rest, hope you feel better.

Chicagoguy

Thank you Bear and Chicagoguy. I'm feeling much better now. Still have a doctor's appointment coming next week but I'm better than I was the other day.

Anyhoo...Last night I gave up smoking. I need to this. I know I can do this. I have before, for months, even a year, but now I need to stop for good. Still have a leccy cig to vape, but my major failing for the past 5 years has been roll your own tobbaco. I won't be buying anymore. I enter this next few days knowing it won't always be easy, but knowing as with when I gave up gambling in December, it'll get easier as the days and this vice too can be overcome. God give me strength in myself to do this.

On the gambling front, still the same. I have no urges at the moment. 🙂

I'm nearly finished on a book I recommend to any cg or ex-cg. It's Willie Thorne's (snooker player) autobiography 'Taking a punt on my life.' It's a great read and although it stirs up a lot of raw emotion in me from my gambling days, this sort of book cements in my mind why people should never gamble anyway. A man who had it all, got lost in himself as a compulsive gambler and then lost it all, but like us survived through it and has moved on. Thank you Dotty, for the recommendation. It's been a great read!

Have a nice weekend everyone.

All the best

Alex

Hi Alex

Haven't seen you posting for a while. Just wanted to wish you luck with your non smoking. it seems like you are ready and determined to do this, which I think is really important. I'm sure it's not going to be easy at first but as you rightly said, neither was giving up gambling at first.

Take care and just think of the extra money you can save.

Feb.

Hey Alex,

Glad your feeling better, and gambling is becoming a distant memory. Stay strong, enjoy the weekend.

Chicagoguy

Hi all

Hope you're all doing well on your journeys of recovery. I am doing okay at the moment, still bet/gamble free, happy, though still a little skint and smoking (naughty alex!).

Anyway, Sunday was difficult. I could have gambled (..or not wink wink). The amount of stress I felt for a few seconds could have caused me to just lose it and say what the hell, let's do something stupid. What happened? Go to carboot, lock my bike up at the gates, finish at the carboot, go to unlock bike - key flippin' snaps (super stress)!! I had to walk home 5 miles, but not before having a fight with my bike, then hours later trying to take off the lock with a car jack (it worked - thank you god). Anyway, as said for a few seconds, just after my key snapped this stress built up. I felt like I have done many time before (when I gambled), then I sort of gathered the strength to just reassure myself that everything was going to be okay, which it was to be. My legs were aching by the end of the day but my day was made more interesting and enjoyable by my key snapping in that lock.

And today..Lost a tenner or so I thought. Not much, granted, but I can do some shopping with that tenner. Anyway, I looked and looked for it, couldn't find it. Whilst looking, I was thinking back to my deposits with my gambling online, typically £10 a time, then more as I chased after losing. It's mad I was thinking, here's me looking for a tenner, when months before I would have thought nothing of just throwing a tenner away in seconds, or worse - wasting my time gambling a tenner over several hours (i kid you not - how sad was I). What a strange person I became as a gambler. I'm just glad I got out of trap. Even early on, with hindsight it was causing mental health problems back in 2011. Why did I continue doing something which brought me nothing but s*i*?

Past is past

I am okay in the here and now though. There will troughs ahead and there will be peaks, and I will cope as best I can.

Happily I can say I found my tenner though.. And I will not be gambling it 🙂

All the best & Stay strong

Alex

Hi Alex.

Lovely to hear from you again and still remaining strong and focused even I stressful situations. Well done.

Take care and keep forging ahead.

Feb.

Hey Alex,

Congrats on your continued sobriety. Great of you to be able to realize things in the past that caused you to go gamble. Now you have the strength to see it, and stop it. We're working on relapse prevention in my group therapy class now, and learning how to stop a relapse after the thought, with "stoppers" or just saying to yourself "I don't gamble anymore", that could be a stopper, I'am planning to buy myself a watch at my 100 day mark, and when I get the thoughts of gambling or whatever creates them, I'am going to look at the time and say, nope not I, the watch will remind me of my sobriety and how far I have come in it, and stop the relapse cycle. Glad your doing great, stay strong!

Chicagoguy