Open letter

Thanks for your post and advice Jon.
Your right a little mini aim is helpful.
I've got one project started,I do need other things to occupy my time/mind and thoughts,keeping busy is the key with me.

This forum is great,people like yourselves chipping in with advice;strategies,glad your on board.

Keep posting
Trigger.

Felling much better than I have for a while. Contact and interaction with people going through the same thing definitely helps me.

The urges that we're bothering me of late have gone and I feel mentally stronger for dealing with them and getting out the other side without succumbing.

I have no intentention of giving up my peace of mind for the sake of a bet.

my resolve is strong again and I must thank the people her who gave me encouragement and advice.

I wish you all well.

my name is john, I am a compulsive gambler in recovery. No bet since 02/04/2014.

A great post John and a boost to us all.
The encouragement and advice on this site is a god send.

Working through those urges is what it's all about,it does make you stronger.

Keep posting John
All the best trigger.

Lovely to see you out the other side of these urges, still safely in recovery 🙂

Hi John, Just want to say a huge congratualtions for staying gamble free for so long, especially for advoiding the craving of that next gamble, but cravings come and go, they never last for long, its just about making the mental decision to say NO to them.

We cannot control our gambling so we mUst not gamble in the first place, making us winners.

Keep fighting the fight!

Thank you everyone.

Received some bad news on Monday as I found out that I will be unemployed come February.

This changes certain plans I have made and will put the squeeze on financially however I must meet it head on.

I have already begun looking for a new job. There are options. Recovery gives me the ability to step back from the situation and evaluate it with a clear mind. For years my mind worked overtime.

I have spend days in bed after a loss, not wanting to face the world. My mind in overdrive. Severe Physical and mental pain.It tires me now thinking about it.

In recovery my mind is a much quieter place and seems to be much better equipped at making decisions.

yet another reason why recovery is THE place for me.

there is a major storm going on outside right now, but I'm safely inside at my open fire, my wee darling safe upstairs in bed and my mind is at ease.

this is recovery.

And it's there for anyone who really wants it.

I want it.

best wishes to everyone.

my name is john and I am a compulsive gambling addict happily in recovery since 02/04/2014.

Sorry to hear that news John.

Your positivity shines through mate,well done for keeping upbeat and having a clear mind to tackle life's problems head on.

Your an intelligent chap;im sure you will find work very soon.

All the best,and congrats on your continued abstinence from gambling;your an inspiration.

Sorry to hear about your job & I can only hope you find a rewarding one that is perhaps a little less demanding of your precious time!

Such an inspirational post & a reminder to us all to be extremely grateful that we are able to recover from this particular illness!

May you stay happily in recovery forever - ODAAT

Thanks for the posts guys. The support helps even when things are going good.

no news on the job front but I have time.

I read a lot of posts on here. Sometimes a few words or a few sentences of a post really hit home and strengthens my resolve.

This first hand insight of others is invaluable to my recovery and ,at the risk of repeating myself,something that I am truly grateful for.

I am off all weekend and will spend my time wisely.

I wish all of you a good weekend.

I'm john, I'm a compulsive gambler in recovery since 02/04/2014.

Hi John, thanks for dropping by 🙂

168 days ago, I was broken...Now as our illustrious leader pointed out will happen, staying in recovery is more important to me than placing a bet! I'm pretty sure you are here too!

We owe it to ourselves to always be compulsive gamblers beating the system - ODAAT

Good evening.

thanks nt and odaat for dropping by. I hope you are both well.

Recovery is going well for me...

However One thing I cannot seem to be able to do is to make any peace or forgive myself in any way for some the awful things I did while gambling.

I don't dwell on this all the time but it does cross my mind quite frequently and Affects my mood. Don't get me wrong I am not saying I deserve the peace of mind that I'm talking about. I just wonder if anyone has any experience, thoughts or advice on the matter.

i hope I explained myself ok.

best wishes to everyone.

My name is john and I'm a compulsive gambler in recovery.

Hi John,

Firstly a fantastic achievement to you on being nearly 10 months gamble free.

I am 269 days today, I think that makes you 26 days ahead of me ( if I am correct lol).

I have also been having flashbacks and thoughts lately of my past gambling, I certainly have no wish or urge to gamble at this time, and those flashbacks keep my resolve even stronger, but like you say it's not good, I guess it's another phase of part of our recovery,

You are so near to that 300 milestone, you are doing brilliantly

Suzanne xx

o*g, all this time & it still hurts 🙁 But, amazing work on 295 days 🙂

Thank-you for sharing & yep, I know exactly what you mean...The thoughts just pop into my head & make me even more ashamed than ever that I allowed myself to get like that 🙁 I was asked recently on this forum what my worse one was & I wrote it down...I think it helped because in my mind I was answering the question of what had gambling made me do rather than me just doing it out of spite! I know that probably sounds a bit daft but I know I would never had made those bad choices otherwise! I still have trouble accepting that I was an addict because I knew at the time it was wrong & should have had the strength to pull away but recovery has shown me that the addiction controls us whilst we are in it's ***!

I think you should try & accept that the addiction does not own you anymore! Yes, it was you that did those things but had the addiction not been present they would never have happened!

The addiction took so much of my life from me, I am getting my own back these days, blaming it for my every bad mood or rubbishy feeling! It's the least it can do, shoulder some of the blame & since I control it now, it gets to share whether it wants to or not!

As my daft old CG of a mother says, 'it's no good regretting the things you could have changed but didn't!' Let's just try & work towards a better life, with no regrets - ODAAT

Hi ODAAT,

I find myself pondering the past a lot. Trying to come up with answers as to why I became addicted to gambling. How one game could have stolen so much time from me? Why I let it? How did I become the person who gambled away great friendships? Why I knowingly repeated the same work/gamble/lose cycle to the detriment of my own mental health?

Basically, how could I have been so f&@king stupid???!?

ODAAT your reply to my post and the point of view you take on it is a way that I have not looked at it before and it has really really helped me.

You said,

"I think you should try & accept that the addiction does not own you anymore! Yes, it was you that did those things but had the addiction not been present they would never have happened!"

Thank you.

I am so grateful for this forum, where I can post how I'm feeling, relay my fears and good good people unfortunately with their own 1st hand knowledge of this life consuming addiction take precious time from their limited stock of days on this earth to sit at their screen and offer me sincere heartfelt advice and a different viewpoint on MY worries.

It blows me away.

people are good.

What I took from the wonderful advice is that although I've done well in abstaining from gambling, it would now serve me better to put to bed the demons from the time in my life when addiction was present and judge myself on the person I am in recovery and I am extremely comfortable with that person.

Another day 1 of sorts for me tomorrow. Day 1 of putting a conscious effort into forgiving my past for the good of my future.

Thank you for taking the time to help Me with my worries today ODAAT and thanks to everyone who has helped to date.

It priceless.

My name is john, I'm a compulsive gambler in recovery.

Hi John, I trust this new angle is making your journey a little less uncomfortable...It is wonderful for me to hear a suggestion give this level of hope 🙂