Need help

Hi Tom i am new on here this second.

At least you have a debt plan in place, keep strong buddy and i hope you can beat this vile addiction.

Hi Adam, cheers mate. What’s your story? Signing up is a good step. Time to move forward. What’s your debt level like? Just write everything down mate and figure out what money you can free up to clear debt every month. Iv been here before but this time I’m not going back

Hi Tom, thanks for your message on my thread. GAMSTOP was massive for me and i’m Sure this will be for you too. This addiction is not easy to explain and why we do it is also very hard for others to understand. Truth being we don’t understand ourselves. £5k debt on your wage is manageable mate, so my advice to you would be to stop now before things do get out of hand. Carry on and 6 months down the line you could be 15/20k in debt. That’s what happened to me and more, however day by day it does get better. Focus your time on family and hobbies, and although it is hard to start with every day that passes it does get easier. Good luck, I wish you the best.

Hey both, a step in the right direction for us all! I’m new too and have a pretty sad story but it happens all to easy to people

from all walks of life. Well done for taking the first leap!

Kaz x

Hey all, today has been hard. Managed to avoid depositing, Iv thought about it but stopped myself. Gamstop is great for uk casinos but offshore not so good. I have tried to exclude myself from everywhere. Feels pretty good to actually try and take some control back. Trying to draw a line under the debt etc and not dwell on it, I feel if I dwell it just makes me feel worse. So day 1 clean so far so good. I hope you are all doing well. Hopefully we can all get through it.

Hi all, had a massive replapse on New Year’s Eve, I spent £180 that I couldn’t afford. Really really disappointed with myself and was doing so well. Now 3 days with no gambling but really struggling, I’m beating myself up big time about relapsing, stupidity thought I was on top of this. Just can’t seem to get a grip. Anyone with any advise would be welcome. Thanks to all

Hi Worv, just checking in with you as I did the exact same thing on NYE, Am now scrabbling around for rent! Beating ourselves up won't help, we need to learn from this and, hopefully, stay GF this year, good luck!

Hey Tom.
Sorry to hear about your relapse. I feel your pain but no point giving yourself a hard time of it. That won't bring your money back. Try and use that emotion in order not to gamble again. I agree with G100, keep gambling and you have the ability to lose it all. I would suggest however that you speak with your partner. She might surprise you. I would also suggest taking in a ga meeting. I would put all the blocks you can in place. You are not alone. Try and deal with the triggers that make you need to gamble. Above all...keep your chin up.

Hi both, thanks for your messages, unfortunately I can’t speak to my partner, she said last year that it was the last time or she will be leaving. I feel terrible for not telling her. The only bright side is it was not a massive amount of cash and I managed to stop myself from depositing more. I am on gamstop and have literally self excluded from everywhere I can possibly try and get. To be honest I have just had enough of it now. I am so much better when it is not in my life so tomorrow is day 4 and I am going to be coming here every day to write a bit, I am going to try and use this as an outlet to try and remind myself what I would be losing if I carry on. I hope you are both okay and don’t let the gambling get you down. We have an illness and together we can all get better

Hey Tom,

Thanks for stopping by my diary earlier, I know words are cheap coming from me but don’t beat yourself up over this. My salary for doing admin work in a solicitors is £15K a year and I have a second job which I earn £7.85 an hour at (work 65 hours a week in total for this)!and I’m midway through paying off £4K of debt. If I can do it you can too xx

Pay it off and don’t look back. Tomorrow is going to be day 5 gamble free for you and it’ll be a good day because of that 🙂

Hello

Thank you for posting on my diary - much appreciated you dropping by.

So...

You can have an amazing life and there can still be something missing or toxic in it which you try to plug or avoid with gambling... What is that thing Worv? Answers on a postcard please (or my diary if you haven't got a postcard to hand) - have a think and get back to me.

Hints:

Fears, regrets, injustices, self-pity, poor self-image, despair, testing boundaries, never having boundaries instilled in the first place, trauma... These could all be possible causes that leads us to do what we do... But there is always a cause mate.

I tell myself that if i simply enjoyed the feeling of putting money aimlessly in a machine then I could've done that at Tesco with the self-service checkout all day if I really wanted to... ;o) far less damaging to my livelihood!

Hey people, today is day 4 of my recovery. Woke up this morning feeling like s**t and very anxious, that knowing feeling you have let yourself and everyone around you down again.

However I went shopping with my amazing little girl and the day has gradually got better. I am going to put all of this behind me and get back on top of things. Start again. Here’s to beating this horrible Illness.

I will be back again tomorrow for day 5 update

Thanks

Hi

Thanks for your post. Sorry to hear about your father passing like that, and to deal with that at such a young age too...

I wonder if you ever came to terms with and dealt with your father's passing or perhaps found it more effective to bury the feelings and grit your teeth to get through it? There is a fine line with all this psychoanalysis though isn't there, whilst we explore the reasons behind our gambling we are not searching for ways to exonerate ourselves from what we have done, that is dangerous my friend.

Anyway sadness and loss could be themes behind your gambling. Wrap yourself up in joy and unity, keep working on yourself and let's hope you put some GF days behind you, one day at a time. Sadness and loss can come at any point though, remember that... At least you are aware they are potential triggers for gambling and can be ready for them if they rear their ugly heads. Good luck.

How are you going? Good?