SadG wants to be happyG

thanks G for your post my friend, to be honest i was looking for it. it means a great deal to me, take care your friend Dark Place

Note to self: If you see a little piece of wallpaper sticking out from the corner in your hallway either leave it alone or stick it back down. DO NOT pull it. A lack of concentration for 10 secs and I ended up stripping my entire hallway ha ha. Just got a bit carried away with it. Couldn't stop once I started.

Ok it's actually overdue doing and my lodger is away on holiday so this is a good time to do it but talk about making unexpected work for yourself. Now got to go to DIY store tomorrow to pick out new wallpaper and paste and then apply said wallpaper. Sheeesh!

Having said all that it would never have happened in my gambling days. I would never have dedicated the time to do it as I would have been stuck at the pc all day gambling online. It's great that I can always see the positives of not gambling these days instead of being lost in the blur of addiction where you can't think straight and nothing really makes sense. Decorating my hall is far more productive to me.

Tomorrow I'll put my decoratiing hat on and get on with it safe in the knowledge that I am still gamble free and doing more positive things with my life. I know when it's done I'll be chuffed to bits I pulled that little corner of loose paper.

Huge congratulations go to DarkPlace, my Gamcare buddy, who managed 6 months gamble free yesterday. Please go on his post and leave him a message of goodwill if you get the time.

Have a good week all.

G

Gym session completed. Bit more decorating done. Good day so far. Work tonight.

Been having some work done on my little house in Kent. Handyman rang today to say final bill is ready to pay. Plus gas safety check was due but ironically boiler playing up the day before so more expense. My share of season ticket due again to watch Spurs and daughters 21st birthday shopping spree done on Monday.

Total expense for week: Around £950.

Chances of me paying any of those when I was gambling: Minimal. Would have been desperately scrambling around for money or trying to borrow.

Chances of me paying them now after 6 months gamble free: 100%

Still hurts the pocket but I have some savings in the bank now, finances getting better and life is just easier.

Conclusion: It pays not to gamble!

Nuff said.

G

Mr. G

fella great to read your enjoying the benefits of the life you gift yourself through the choice to abstain from gambling.

It will never cease to inspire me the things we can do by facing up to our addiction.

Keep enjoying it.

Duncs stepping forward never back.

Thanks Duncs as always.

The Bear has hopefully hit his 100 day mark gamble free today. Still just waiting for confirmation of that as he hasn't posted in a few days but fingers crossed he's***t this worthy milestone. He's come a long way since Nov last year. Quite a journey and deserves the recognition.

Read a simple comment from cardhue yesterday on someone else's post and it struck a chord with me. The comment was that when he came on this site and started posting on his thread he just 'knew' that this was the right time to give up the gambling.

I felt exactly the same. I had hit my rock bottom and as I logged on to this site to check it out I just 'knew' this was a time in my life to dispense with the gambling devil that had sat on my shoulder for so long. 1 word-knew. I knew I'd had it with gambling. I knew my family had suffered enough. I knew my friends wanted their old mate back. I knew my finances couldn't take the battering any more. I knew my ability to do my job was suffering. I just knew I wanted to change my life and I have. Thanks cardhue. I really related to that comment. Simple yet effective!

Have a great weekend all.

G

Hey SadG,

Thank you very much for your kind and thoughtful words, you have a great weekend and congrats on all your hard work to abstain!

Chicagoguy

hello g

wine was gooooood, been really busy but great to see your doing well. posting in more detail tomorrow.

Dark Place

Hope your a happy G. Well nearly 1 week on, its been a horrendous struggle, almost cold Turkey, have a good weekend.. Liberation

All is good!

Very busy week with work and decorating my flat here in London. I am not very good at wallpapering but enjoyed the challenge all the same. I have 9 doors leading off the main hallway in my flat. 9 bloody doors to paper round! It was tricky and I made a hash of it in places but loving the new fresh look it has brought. The old look wasn't that bad but just a bit tired looking. Still dreaming of a new kitchen but that's a long way off. Long term gambling debts to sort out first but in time I will get there.

Now looking forward to seeing my wife and kids on Sunday. Promised my little man we'd go bowling this weekend and got friends coming over Monday night to look at the possibility of going away as a group sometime next year so plenty to think about.

Starting a 28 day abs program on Monday. Looking forward to that. Six pack for the summer maybe if I can be disciplined enough!

Have a good weekend everyone.

G

Hey SadG,

You have a great weekend also, keep up the hard work your putting into abstinence. Be interested to know what the 28 day abs program entails? I'am just going to start ramping up my treadmill workouts to a slow jog with intervals on the speed. June is ramp it up month for me.

Chicagoguy

Day 1 but only of my abs challenge. Off to the gym to do my HITT training followed by the workout.

Thought it'd be a good day to quit smoking too so I'm going to give that a go too. That will be harder than the gym but when I work out how much I'm spending a month on the cigs and how much it's costing me to buy my protein drinks it makes sense to really have a good go at giving up.

Will report in again later. Hope everyone had a good weekend. No thoughts given to gambling.

G

Mr.G

fella well done on finding more ways to enhance your life.

14 months ago i packed up cigarettes, i was smoking a minimum 20 a day, my advice there do it with help, i used the gum, then after 3 months replaced that with regular gum, lol i still munch a packet a day, but financially i save a fortune.

I applied the same mentality to the smoking as i did the gambling. funniest part was all but one of my GA Fellowship did the same and are all of them to a man still smoke free.

i wish you well and safe in the knowledge that you possess a stealy determination which should serve you well.

duncs stepping forward never back.

Thanks for the advice as always Duncs. I'll take it on board. A friend of mine has recommended I try a course of Champix(I think that's what it's called. That's how it's pronounced anyhow. I'm hearing good things about it. It's prescription only so i need to make an appointment to see my doctor.

Day 1 of the abs program went well although that HIIT training is d**n hard work. High Intensity Interval Training. It's a combination of hard sprints and jogging over a short time period. The idea is to get the heart pumping faster and in turn help the body to burn more fat. I've known about it for ages. It's very effective but man do you get a sweat on and you're legs are like jelly at the end. i didn't go too hard seeing as it was only day 1 but I'll build up to it quickly.

The best thing is that I came home exhausted, had a good lunch, spent some time chatting with my wife then picked the kids up and took them to the dentists for 6 month check ups. All this totally occupied my mind and I have gone another day without any thoughts towards gambling. I am being far more productive with my life and that can only be good.

Looking forward to day 2 of the abs program tomorrow. Night all.

G

Hi Mr G

I would recommend patches. The problem I had with gum is its minging. I also think patches are better to get you away from the mindset of having 'bursts' of nicotine. There's a steady flow and you cut down until your on some negligible amount then stop.

Also - top tip. The patches are expensive and come in 3 stages. Quite outrageously stage 1 (the heaviest dose) is nearly half as much as stages 2 and 3. I guess the plan is to get you hooked on the stronger patches and as they're cheaper just go on them long term. It's ridiculous as stages 2 and 3 are just smaller sized patches.

However, what you can do is to cut the larger patches into 2,3 or even 4. That way it become miles cheaper. It works, that's what I've been doing. So for example, stage 3 is a 7mg patch. If you buy a box of 'stage 3s' then you would pay £14 for 7, which=£2 per patch. However, if you buy stage 1 you get 14 x 21mg for £16. If you divide those into thirds then you are getting the same 7mg patch but for 38p per patch.

I think I stopped smoking around 2 months ago and am about to go from 10mg down to 7mg. The only occasional urge is when drinking. Obviously if you can do cold turkey that's best. But if not then patches are the way - nicotine itself isn't bad for you.

Thanks for the advice guys. Just going cold turkey for now to see how I cope. I was smoking 10 a day but it's the way I'd smoke them. Nothing all day then would always want one after a gym session(I know I find it weird), then maybe 2 on the way to work, then nothing for 8 hours whilst in work(haven't smoked at work for over 10 years) but then on the way home and once at home I'd smoke about 6 in 2 hours before going to bed. Total binge smoking for some reason like I need to top up my fix from not smoking all day. Anyway I'm knocking it all on the head for now especially whilst I do this 28 day abs program.

Days 2 and 3 have been fine. That HIIT running is d**n hard. Sweat buckets. I have to do it 4 times a week. On the plus side I did more today than I did on day 1 so let's see how we're doing by next week once I'm used to doing it. Went to the supermarket and stocked up on lots of yummy healthy food so I can plan my meals. Takes my mind off the gambling that's for sure.

Well time to Skype my wife and kids, then off to work for a nightshift. Have a lovely evening everyone.

G