Hi all,
I've had a disaster few weeks. Been trying to stop gambling for a couple years with limited success. Need to do so much better. All I kept saying to myself tonight was that I want it over. Such a dehabilitating problem. Don't want to get up in the morning. Just want to drink to numb the issue. I'm a sorry example of a human.
May2017
Hello, this sounds just like myself. I've been gambling for the best part of ten years, mainly roulette and football bets. I can spend £300 in one sitting on the roulette machine. Me and my partner are saving for a mortgage and I can easily spend around £1000 a month gambling and I really need help to stop so that's why I'm here. Not sure what I will gain from it but it does feel good to talk I guess. I'm thinking about getting into a routine at the gym to focus my mind. Do you have any tips to help kick the urge to gamble?
Hi May2017 and Adam Sheepard,
well done for coming along to the Forum and posting. Please both feel free to get in touch with Helpline or the Netline to speak to an adviser for one-to-one advice on blocks and strategies.
Also keep posting and sharing.
All the best,
Forum Admin
Thanks for your posts. I dusted myself off today and set about trying to correct my life and put it in a positive direction. I made a chart to tick off being gambling free by the hour for the next 100 days - a bit extreme but I need something to keep me constantly in check. Each hour gamble free is a little step to the immediate first goal of 100 days.
I tidied by desk. I did some work I've been putting off. I planned what I need to do with my next few months pay in order to start getting together some savings and paying off my credit card.
I just needed to give myself some goals and direction as too often I idle through recovery and get caught out. I just don't want to gamble anymore but I keep dragging myself back into it and ruining my life. The gambling gives me a buzz but it needs replacing with a buzz for life. Right now I have no life in me. I have no desire to see the next day - I just want to see the next day over. It's really sad.
Tomorrow I'm going to think more around cleaning myself up - stoppping the drinking and dragging myself onto my exercise bike. I haven't exercised properly in years when previously I used to play a lot of sport and take some pride in myself.
The MOST important thing I need to remember is that this takes weeks and months and years and there is no easy fix. All to often I want to be in a mindset and financial position that I would have been in if I had not gambled. Unfortunately I have gambled and to correct that mistake takes much longer than it takes to make that mistake.
"A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, they would both drown. Considering this, the frog agrees, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When the frog asks the scorpion why, the scorpion replies that it was in its nature to do so".
'Right now I have no life in me. I have no desire to see the next day - I just want to see the next day over. It's really sad.'
Thanks Chan - I've had a more positive day. Got a bit more focus and put together in my head the direction I want the remainder of the year to go. Hope you're ok.
3 days and 6 hours done! It's a start!
Hey hun,
Just checking on you... hope you're still focused and gamble free.
I was close to a day one again today. Thank God for blocks!!
The next time I have acquired a bit of cash via hard work, I will be booking a holiday and enjoying the proceeds rather than trying to double it on a roulette wheel/slot.
Keep up the fight hun and never let your guard down x
Chan
Keep going Chan - don't speak to Day 0 again! It's truely pointless. You're not going to win enough to make you stop. All you win will be poured back and more. I'm Day 4 fully complete and just shy of Day 5. I'm in a decent place to be fair. I've got some good focus now and just need to maintain this momentum through a longer period. Finding ticking off my chart is quite helpful as I can see progress.
Keep going guys I'm literally just finishing day 2 so right at the beginning of the journey myself. I did some exercise today and it does help.
Think I'm quite similar to you, sure I gamble just for the rush, I think if I were a millionaire I'd still be a bad gambler. I stopped for a year around 6-7 years ago and it was a great time in my life. Will do my best to get back to that
I with you hate fobts! You've doubled your days in one day. I'm so focused right now but it's all about keeping the momentum. There's some life left yet and i'm taking it. I've got more to give then spending it gambling.
Day 10 and nearly 11 in few hours. Going well.
Day 15 nearly done. Doing a lot better. Big day for me as some major sports taking place.
Day 40!
We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.
