My first diary!

Morning Diary,

Day 468 - Another crazy week. This weather is lovely but it certainly makes work a whole lot busier. Even had to come in this morning which isn't high on my list of favorite things.

Sounds a bit cliche to say I don't have time to think about gambling but it feels that way at the moment. Work, exercise, eat, and sleep is the formula. Weekends there seems to be something happening every week at the moment. Life is a blur sometimes almost too much so.

Got a nice few weeks ahead with bits and pieces of time off work and just 6 weeks until the big 30 🙁 scary stuff.

All in all things are pretty good right now even if I wished time would slow a little. Not been around the diaries and forums so much lately so it's nice to have a 90 day thread to retain focus and the 2013 bet free thread is still very strong.

Day 468 - Slow Down!

Hope today wasn't to mad for ya. Just keep looking forward to that time off. I finished work today and off for a week not to rub it in lol. Hope the weathers as nice this coming week as it has been this week. Anyway glad your well other than being mega busy take care and relax - if you get chance!!

Hi Mr f

Happy to read that things are still going good for you. Keep focussed on the time off you've got planned that'll give you something to look forward to- emmmmm is it rubbing it in too much to let you know like Dave, I'm off for 10 days 🙂

I'm hoping you've got something lovely planned for the b/day celebrations.

Hope this weeks less hectic!

Take care

Irene

x

Flagg oh Flagg where art thou Flagg. Hope ya had a great weekend mate. Take care.

Morning Diary,

Day 479 - Not a great deal to report. Work has been busy with the weather remaining generally very good. After work I have been exercising, eating, and sleeping. Not a great deal of time for much else. I continue to stay in touch with the forum and it's great to see so many people still progressing one day at a time!

Day 479 - Countdown to 500!

Hey Mr Flagg,

the big 500 looms eh, why doesnt that surprise me, Fantastic achievement.

Great to see you still around the forum, you played a massive part in my recovery in the early days and i will always be grateful and thankful for that.

take care

blondie x

Hi Mr f

Glad to see you still around. Hopefully you're enjoying "normal life". Like Blondie, looking forward to the half century celebrations 🙂

Take care

Irene

x

Yo,

Just touching base , looks like Mr Flaggs got things covered .

Bloody marvellous !

Hugs pal

Shiny xxxxxxxx

Good Morning Diary,

Day 487 - Cannot believe it's been 8 days since I last posted. Time seems to be on fast forward again right now.

Had another really good week. Remaining steady with good moods and no worries. My posts I notice seem to mirror this time last year and I remain very aware of my Jekyll and Hyde personality. I am enjoying where I am now and the serenity the lighter days and nights seem to bring but I continue to work on things to try and make the darker days equally as bright.

30th Birthday in 4 weeks and have booked a nice all inclusive holiday for a couple of weeks after. Might aswell celebrate old age :).

I honestly haven't given gambling a second thought for quite some time now. What I will say is i'm not naive enough to think I have been given a miracle cure. I will remain in contact with my diary and I will still get to my GA meetings even if it's not every single week.

Wishing everyone well,

Day 487 - 13 to the big 500!

Flying to that 500. Thats awesome Flagg. It really is great to see you piling on the days. Obviously i do wish i could be right behind you and if i followed your lead i would be but not meant to be - i'll get there. But seeing you get there and talk of a holiday on the horizion that just gives me hope that i can to have that and thats a great feeling. Enjoy the holiday you old git, actually ignore the old git part I think I'll use that in 4 weeks time lol.

Hi Flagg,

Long time mate but wow you are still going as strong as I last saw you on here. Really does inspire me to push myself to get to a year and more of not gambling. That is so good how your getting on and almost at 500 days. I had a massive slip just after christmas took me a while to get out of it but I stopped On April 10th 2013. I am now day 127. and haven't missed a GA meeting since I am more focused and determined to nail this addiction and concentrate on living life.

Well I am back on this site now finding it hard to get time to get to the chat. But will keep checking diaries and updating mine. Just want to say really well done my old friend take care and all the best,

Ricky 🙂

Good Morning Diary,

Day 500 - 500 days without gambling one single penny. It's amazing to think that when my gambling was at it's worst I wouldn't have gone 5 hours without gambling on something. A little calculation last night showed that in another 500 days I will be very close to being debt free. That is something to keep pushing me forward. It also serves as a harsh reminder of what gambling did to me. At least 1000 days to clear the debts I accumulated is crazy!

I have been watching from afar and staying neutral on the recent debates. I think Duncs idea to start a debating thread was brilliant though and I hope it proves useful.

For the purpose of my own diary I would say if a person is gambling in a 'controlled' manner then it is highly unlikely they are compulsive or an addict. If they are an addict then in my opinion 'controlled' gambling will go badly wrong eventually.

Total 100% abstinence has worked for me and although it wasn't easy going cold turkey at first I now feel at ease with myself and I do not feel threatened by my addiction. If I had decided on 95% abstinence but still had a line on the lottery or the odd go on the racing etc I honestly do not feel I would be in this position today.

Just one final thought on GA V Gamcare. I have found the GA 'Way' to be slightly a**l and too strict at times. I have heard debates about a guy bidding on ******* or playing a quiz and whether this constitutes gambling. Debate is healthy but people arguing whether somebody should be back at day 1 because they 'won' an ******* item is a bit crazy. At the same time I believe the Gamcare stance is a little too relaxed.

Both GA and Gamcare have aided hugely in my recovery and I use them both for me and take out the bits I need. Ultimately recovery is about the individual.

It's great to see so many people doing well and many 'new' people on the forum keeping it fresh and lively.

I wish everyone continued success in their recovery.

Day 500 - That looks great written down!

Hiya mate,

Congratulations on the 500 days that is really well done am very pleased to see you stick with it it and achieve this. It just gives everyone hope and you show everyone it can be done :).

I am at 134 days now and total abstinence no lottery no raffle nothing and GA is working for me, I haven't tried the steps yet but think I will do a few of the steps not all will see how it goes. But have slowly started coming back this site and go GA every Thursday. I hope one day I can say that i got to 500 days on my diary 🙂

take care mate and keep going strong a great inspiration and achievement

Ricky

Yo,

Good on ya !

Enough said!

Shiny xxxxxxxx

Hi Flagg,

500 days that is brilliant, it made me smile reading ur post and gave me hope. Thanks 🙂

Have a gr8 day and I hope u celebrate ur achievement xx