My story and journey forward 190416

Congratulations Tommy 472 Days , happy and at ease with your gamble free life .

Makes me ever more confident I can achieve the same .

No going back now ....stephen

Thanks Stephen, yep absolutley! 100 day mark just around the corner for you 😉

First of many 100's!

In a few days I will hit the 500 day gamble free mark.

I have to admit though that I almost threw it away on Friday. I had a really strong urge to gamble and I found one site that my exclusion must have lapsed on. I managed to login and spent most of friday morning deliberating whether to gamble in the hope I could clear my debts off. I had my strategy worked out. But I'm glad to say I didn't gamble! I made sure to join the gamcare chat in the afternoon and it was a massive help to me - the reality check I needed! Haven't thought much about it since.

Following that I made sure to block access to that site by self-excluding.

I follow a budget these days religiously and I had got to end of month and realised I hadn't made a payment towards something that I should have earlier in month. It threw me off a little even though I could quickly pay it and no harm done. But my old mindset must have crept back in. There's alot of things coming up moneywise that are playing on my mind but that's life I guess.

I know I can manage all these things and that gambling won't fix anything - it's what got me in debt in the first place! And would get me in more debt if I went back there.

In recovery you don't know when it will strike but you will have weak days, I guess it's just knowing how to handle these and get through that one day without gambling. The next day you feel much better for having fended off the devil in your ear.

Roll on 500.

540 days gamble free. The past few months have been manic but glad to say my thoughts about gambling have been almost non-existent.

This is a massive week - my wife is due to give birth in the next few days so I'm conscious of my anxiety levels. Especially given our past struggles. More than anything just buzzing at prospect of meeting my son. How times have changed from 18 months ago!!

Staying gamble free I know I can give him a bright future and he won't know his dad 'the gambler'.

Lots of coverage of mental health week going around which is great! Think one of the things I realised the past few years is how much I bottled everything up - we all need to share, to vent, to take advice. Not run away from difficult issues in our lives to a slot/online gambling site etc. It only compunds all the underlying issues that you still have to tackle after a gambling binge!

Hi Tommy

500+ days... excellent, keep it going.

Good to chat tonight, I find Mixer in chat is most helpful and positive. I too am going to pop in more often in the evenings.

Take care and stay GF.

Amazing work Tommy. 500 + days is fantastic! You should be very proud of this.

TM1985 wrote:

540 days gamble free. The past few months have been manic but glad to say my thoughts about gambling have been almost non-existent.

This is a massive week - my wife is due to give birth in the next few days so I'm conscious of my anxiety levels. Especially given our past struggles. More than anything just buzzing at prospect of meeting my son. How times have changed from 18 months ago!!

Staying gamble free I know I can give him a bright future and he won't know his dad 'the gambler'.

Lots of coverage of mental health week going around which is great! Think one of the things I realised the past few years is how much I bottled everything up - we all need to share, to vent, to take advice. Not run away from difficult issues in our lives to a slot/online gambling site etc. It only compunds all the underlying issues that you still have to tackle after a gambling binge!

Can't believe I wrote this a month before I relapsed. But I managed to get to that place before so I know I can get back there...

Onwards and upwards.