My Recovery Diary (last bet 22/04/06 )

Hi, glad you are doing so well. It is great your wife has been so supportive. Not having to hide anything makes things a lot easier, a lot of the problems I and others have is the feelings of guilt as we cannot confide even in our life partners.

I have just reread the first few postings on your diary and very much agree when you say as addicts we can control it but it never goes away. So true and it gave me hope as if I can control this then other things in my life can be taken in hand as well.

Well done Jim. Keep it going Joy x

Haven't posted for a few days, but things are still going well, both on the gambling front and the non smoking.

I am not really having any urges to do either of these things at the moment and am just enjoying being a non gambler and a non smoker.

bye for now

Jim (last bet 22/04/06)

Glad to hear you are still doing well. You will be able to sign up for a marathon now your not smoking!! keep well and healthy. Joy x

Life still going well, spent the weekend in the garden, painting fences, sheds, etc....much better than the wasted weekends I have spent in the bookies.

Still not smoking either.

Jim (last bet 22/04/06)

Still going strong Gull thats great the not smoking thing is on my agenda i'm sure i will get round to it sometime soon.

Have a nice bank holiday monday and if you get stuck for things to do i've a fence that needs painting.

Craig

Hi Jim, as you have so much energy can you come around and do my fences?? (obviously you will have to do Craig's as well as he asked first!!) also my workshop needs clearing hehehehh.

But seriously, great you are staying so positive. But dont overwork, leave yourself some chill out time. All for now. hugs from Joy x

much better than the wasted weekends I have spent in the bookies.

absoLUTELY!!!

how many hours did i spend in 'my bubble'? far too many to count..and if I *had* counted...the number would surely be depressing...best not to think about that...and be thankful that I'm not wasting my life today...

well...i can't say that i did anything NEARLY as productive is you did this weekend Jim .... but no gambling is always a good thing 🙂

love to you,

peg

xoxoxo

Well it seems as if i have lots of other fences to paint!!!!..lol

It was a nice weekend though..just me and Jac and a tin of paint.

Whatever we spend our time doing has to be better than all the wasted hours at the bookies, in front of a fruit machine, playing online poker..whatever our prefernce was.

All i want to do now is enjoy the rest of my life with my family, and that is what I am doing.

Jim (last bet 22/04/06)

Hey ((Jim))

just wanted to say hi..also to tell you that Ken_L was asking about you..whether you had started your g.a. meeting and how it was going 🙂

take care of YOU!

xoxoxo

I haven't been on here for a while, but my recovery is still going well. The new GA group I set up is still going..only 2/3 members so far and when the GA website finally decide to let people know that it exists, there may be more! but it is a good little meeting.

Its getting close to Jac and mine holiday to Rome..less that four weeks to go..really looking forward to that.

Life is good and it can be for anyone if you really put the effort into stopping gambling. Use any tool out there to help you stop but most of all be determined and never forget why you want to stop.

Jim (last bet 22/04/06)

Everything still going well in my recovery.Everything still going well in my life.

Jim (last bet 22/04/06)

Short & Sweet lol x

All this arguing on the boards about GA recently has made me think about why I go to GA.

The answer is simple really..without GA i would still be gambling or possibly be dead.

When i started going to GA I had no where left to turn...all of my options had gone. I was massivly in debt and could not hide it anymore.

GA gave me hope, GA gave me the strength to carry on and turn my life around.

I didn't think GA was perfect...I still dont, But the bits I took, and still take from those meetings keep me away from placing that first bet, and that first bet will lead me back into a life of misery, lies and dishonesty once again.

I have heard claims recently that GA is a cult, that they brianwash us...This is all utter nonsense. GA is simply a tool to help the compulsive gambler stop gambling..and it works!

The 12 steps, to me, are not religious..maybe they are worded a little bit old fashioned, but they are not religious.

The 12 steps are a program designed to help you change your way of thinking...and my thinking needed changing!!!

If I didnt change my way of thinking then I would still be the same..I would still be a gambler!!!

To me stopping gambling is the most important thing in my life, because I have no life when I am gambling. My wife, my children, my job, my home all become meaningless when I am in the grip of a gambling binge..all that matters is placing that bet.

I dont want to be that person anymore. I want to put my family first and i never want to bet again.

I will do whatever it takes to stop gambling and to stay stopped. I will attend GA meetings even if they are difficult to get to, even if I dont believe in God, even if I dont agree with everyone there, even if "IT IS NOT FOR ME".

I will still go because I have to stop gambling.

I wont carry excess cash around with me, I will leave my credit cards at home when I go out,I will not make excuses not to do these things because I DO NOT WANT TO GAMBLE ANYMORE!!

Seeing and hearing new comers at the GA meeting remind me of where I was and strengthen my resolve never to go back there again.

Trying to become a better person by following the 12 steps in the way that I interpret them is what i do now.

I am not religious, and if I am being brainwashed then so be it...I may be being brainwashed but I AM NOT GAMBLING. Not that I believe for a second that i am being brainwashed.

I dont know if any of the above makes any sense but what i do know is that I am not gambling and havent done since 22/04/06.

This is the path I have taken on my road to recovery and it is working....I feel good about myself again and slowly but surely I am losing the desire to gamble.

Jim (last bet 22/04/06)

What a fantastic post Jim. I personally don't attend G.A. meetings and the only reason is that I attend another fellowship. That fellowship has helped me to overcome my drink problem for the last 4 years and like you my life has turned around.

I didn't want to be a compulsive gambler, especially since I had admitted my powerlessness over alcohol, but my recovery from alcoholism has helped me to also admit my powerlessness over gambling. I use my A.A. program to help with recovery from compulsive gambling and find it to be a great help. I just change the wording slightly.

We also get people calling our fellowship a cult Jim, but like yours it isn't. We're just men & women getting sober & helping other alcoholics to achieve sobriety and I love it. My brain needed washing too Jim, I had what people called, "stinking thinking".

My recovery this time is only in it's infancy Jim ( 6weeks ) but with the help from this forum and my desire not to gamble, things in my life are turning around. I'm enjoying life once again. My family have thier dad back, my partner has her man back, work has an employee who is there 100% now and I'm enjoying socialising with my friends again. That's a win win all round, no need to go to the bookies for that.

God Bless Jim. Belfast John.

thanks John.

I realise that GA isnt for everyone but all i know is that it is working for me.

I am still gambling free after more than 13 months.

Jim (last bet 22/04/06)