My jourmey.

Hi R, welcome to recovery 🙂

Looking forward to your 1st update as to how you are moving forwards! 16 years is far too long to have trusted the bad...Time to put your trust in you - ODAAT

Hi R,

Thanks for your post, which makes a lot of sense to me, and I suppose to other forum members too, of how it all started.

I’m glad that you’ve chosen to share your story here so others can learn from your experience.

It seems like you’ve already got some strategies in place, and you also sound positive and determined to overcome your problematic gambling. That is a step in the right direction.

Forum members are very supportive, and they share recovering strategies here, so others can also benefit in case they can identify with them.

I also think it’s a good idea that you’re going to post frequently to the forum, so that you and all can monitor your progress. That’ll help you to stay focused with your recovery process; it helps.

It’s seems like you’re now aware that trying to chase your losses end you up in deeper and huge debts. Thus I suggest that you let go of all your losses, and rather, to concentrate on your recovery, and to look forward to a gamble free future. You can do it R, if you keep to these strategies, as it works! It might take you a bit of time though, as habits are not easy to break, and you’ve been gambling for 16 years. You just have to be patient with yourself, and take it one step at a time.

Maybe you’d like to contact our free phone Helpline on: 0808 8020 133, and speak to one of our advisers in case you need further help and counselling support. Our lines are open from 8.00am to midnight, every day.

Please try and keep up the good work.

Best wishes,

Beatrice

Hi R , welcome to the forums ,its good to share youre thoughts and journey with us all . You are not alone and never will be here. You are amongst fellow CG ,who will help and support you !.We are or have at one time all been broken souls searching for an end too our misery.

Your story rings true with me as well , i have lost most of which was precious to me in life over the last 8 years too FOBT in the bookies. I am hopefully at the start of my jounrey of recovery and i hope you will join me friend and we will not gamble ,tomorrow or the next and the next. ONE day at a time. only one day.

I wish you well on youre recovery R and look foward to reading your diary.

Thanks guys, I will check in with your diarys too.

Dear Dairy,

Day 2.

Feeling good this morning and have a busy day at work ahead, too busy to think about gambling, far too busy :o)

So,I like everyone on this planet have at times struggled with self-belief…… “I will never be able to do that” “That’s too far out my reach” “Why would anyone think I could achieve such a thing!?”

I have put a lot of thought recently in to why I have negative thoughts and why I have often been pessimistic about things. Is it hereditary? Is it just built in? Did I learn to be like this? Why can’t I change? How do I change?

For me personally I could never find a simple answer. I have however found many ways to develop myself and thus change my outlook on life, finding inner belief that I never knew was there. I decided to burst my little bubble and change my thought process forever. For example, I have had a fear of flying ever since I was young and only ever done short haul flights. But this year I am off to America and I can’t wait! Instead of keep thinking, whats the worse that can happen. I thought about the most likely scenario. That being everything will be fine and I WILL have a week of my life. I must learn not to worry about things out of my control and put my TRUST in not just myself but others around me.

I would just like to share some ways, that you, like me, can change and become the person you want to be, just by simply believing in yourself and what you can achieve. I will share my ideas of the coming weeks.

THINK ABOUT IT, WE ALL GAMBLE BECAUSE WE DON’T BELIEVE IN OURSELVES. DEEP DOWN WE KNOW WE WILL LOSE, WE ARE JUST PUNISHING OURSELVES BECAUSE WE DON’T THINK WE ARE GOOD ENOUGH. ITS TRUE.

Thank you for reading and have a great gambling free weekend, I will check in again on Monday,

MR Gambling Free x

Dear diary,

Had a good weekend and suppressed all thought about gambling.

Feeling good today, even though its a Monday!

So I said I would share ways I have overcome gambling. the first of which is to stop letting negative thoughts overcome me.

In this day and age, more content (blogs, tweets, Facebook posts, etc) gets published than at any point in the history of the world. Whatever we want to consume is accessible. The issue is what often lands on our plate is filled with negativity – from gossip posts to pure brainless themes like Cat memes. While individually, this content doesn’t do real harm, over time it eats away at our mind like a disease. Consume a disproportionate amount of inspirational content and cut out the c**P. So basically I have stopped letting any negative news story or facebook post effect me. It is these negative thoughts, WHATEVER they are can lead us to the bookies. Most people tend to gamble whien they are low. SO STOP reading and listening to negative or sad stories. If your firend is always posting negative things on facebook just block them seriously. I had some-one that every other post she was moaning about something. By constantly reading bad posts will put you in a negative state of mind. Us CG need to stay strong. Fill yourself with positve thoghts, only like pages that are inspirational and only spend time with people that lift you up, not down.

This is the best place to start, its all about being in a postive state of mind.

Today I will not gamble,

Ru x

Good morning diary,

Checking in day 12 :o)

Great positive post Ru - well done on 12 days gf! I look forward to reading your diary and watch you break this habit!

Checking in day 20, nearly three weeks.