Sick and tired of being sick and tired.

6 weeks 3 days or 45 days gamble free.

Had my last counselling session yesterday.

I do personally recommend it, certainly helped me lots.

I feel better prepared then ever before to overcome this addiction, but I know I need to be on the ball 100% and leave nothing to complacency.

The hurt and pain gambling has caused me and my familly over the years and has been horrendous, but has stood me in good stead to finally conquer it.

Dont get me wrong I will always be an addict , but i will be living in recovery, recovery will give me and my familly a better life.

Have a good wk end folks.

6 weeks 3 days or 45 days gamble free.

Had my last counselling session yesterday.

I do personally recommend it, certainly helped me lots.

I feel better prepared then ever before to overcome this addiction, but I know I need to be on the ball 100% and leave nothing to complacency.

The hurt and pain gambling has caused me and my familly over the years and has been horrendous, but has stood me in good stead to finally conquer it.

Dont get me wrong I will always be an addict , but i will be living in recovery, recovery will give me and my familly a better life.

Have a good wk end folks.

6 weeks 3 days or 45 days gamble free.

Had my last counselling session yesterday.

I do personally recommend it, certainly helped me lots.

I feel better prepared then ever before to overcome this addiction, but I know I need to be on the ball 100% and leave nothing to complacency.

The hurt and pain gambling has caused me and my familly over the years and has been horrendous, but has stood me in good stead to finally conquer it.

Dont get me wrong I will always be an addict , but i will be living in recovery, recovery will give me and my familly a better life.

Have a good wk end folks.

6 weeks 3 days or 45 days gamble free.

Had my last counselling session yesterday.

I do personally recommend it, certainly helped me lots.

I feel better prepared then ever before to overcome this addiction, but I know I need to be on the ball 100% and leave nothing to complacency.

The hurt and pain gambling has caused me and my familly over the years and has been horrendous, but has stood me in good stead to finally conquer it.

Dont get me wrong I will always be an addict , but i will be living in recovery, recovery will give me and my familly a better life.

Have a good wk end folks.

Hi Gav,

Glad to see you are still doing well mate. If I didnt travel so much i would definitely consider GA meetings too, I think the more steps and systems we put in place to help manage things the less chance there is of having a moment of madness and relapsing so I commend you for sticking with the meetings.

Ill give that film a go, I know the missus wanted to see that (I dont particularly like Ben Affleck, so ill blame you if I cant get on with it 😉 ).

Hope all is well and keep on keeping on mate,

FM

Hi all, ha FM Im not a big fan of his acting either , but he was actually pretty dam good in this movie! I'll refund you if dont like it , lol.

Yeah all good with me 7 weeks and a day i think, all building up quite nicely.

No real urges, which has been nice.

This was always a bad time of the yr for me in the past with National Hunt Horse racing just starting, I used to follow a certain trainer and was pretty obessive about the whole thing!

A work do in Jan has been organised which involves a night at the dog races included meal and booze etc, and a few bets. I feel quite uncomfortable about the whole thing , so i think the best action would be to not go in the first place, would be the safest bet so to speak!

Apart from that, and me not cutting down my debts as much as I like things are going pretty good.

8 weeks tomorrow.

Just looking back on previous posts and see posts back from 2008! Flip the sh** was hitting the fan then , that was just before i got married and I remember it clearly, I was freaked out I lost £600 on online poker, I remember I couldnt sleep a wink and I was physically shaking the next day in pieces. Losing £600 in a few hours over the past year and I wouldnt bat an eyelid, really shows you the progressive nature of this addiction.

An alcohol fueled wk end, actually found myself watching some channel 4 jumps racing after wine, and then i thought what the heck am i doing? I had no intention of gambling or putting money on any race I was just curious as to how a race would pan out, but I realise this is dangerous dangerous territory!

This is how relaspes happened in the past , from its ok just to watch a few races to thoughts of I could actually stick a few quid on a lucky 15 or yankee to back to gambling again.

I have no control over any form of gambling, as i Cannot Stop!

Anyway I keep mentioning complacency and thats why, as relaspes can happen all to easily.

Anyway 8 weeks tomorrow which I truely am proud about!

Hi Gav,

Be very proud 8 weeks is a big achievement, well done, keep focused and stay strong it's not an easy journey

Suzanne xx

Congrats on eight weeks fella !.

Keep it up, and be proud of what you have achieved. You sound a million miles away from the first few entries in your diary now mate.

Best Regards,

FM.

Thanks all for the kind comments! Yeah I feel a heck of a lot better than I did when i started my diary FM, and yes Suzanne the need to stay focused is of ultimate importance, as relaspes can come so easily.

TBH it just been great doing things over the past 2 months which I didnt do before, basic things, new clothes, shoes , eating out, cinema etc etc.

I havent cut my debt as much I should have but I;ve been having fun. The OD will have to go however, so Im planning a couple of chilled weeks as December will be money money money!

Going to badminton tonight which I havent played in ages, so Ill probably not be capable of walking tomorrow.

Keep strong all

Hi Gav

Hows it going fella ?. Hope you had a good weekend and all is still right with the world. I used to play badminton years ago at county level and competed in a few national tournaments, It was my life (playing or training every day) until I was about 17/18 when I found pubbing, clubbing and chasing women all the more alluring. I tore my rotator cuff not long after so it stopped altogether. I have tried to go back to it as its a great sport for fitness and very social too, however Ive found that 1) Im too old, fat, and slow now, and 2) If i attempt to smash like I used to, after a few points my rotator cuff will pop and Ill hit the ground like a sack of s**t, that then puts me out of action for a couple of weeks whilst it mends again... oh and 3) Ill not be capable of walking again the next day as you said !.

I hope you had a good one and enjoyed the badminton even if you are hobbling around like youve ridden a rhino today.

Best Regards,

FM.

Flip we've a lot in common FM! Yeah I played to county level as well under 16, played in division one of our national league the past 20years or so , been playing since I was about 10 (now 36!). Great Sport I love it, and touch wood have been fairly lucky with injuries, just some tennis elbow from time to time which can be annoying enough.

Felt great getting back, wasnt too bad the days after , certainly not as bad as I thought I'd be. Played ok, the touch was there but fitness was the killer, I was huffing and puffing after half a game lol, but was good to get back into it. Not sure about matches this year but Im def going to play once a week!

Excerise is great, i just dont get enough of it, especially from sitting infront of a monitor 40 hours a week !

Things seem to be going well for both of us. Long may it continue.

Thanks for those encouraging and true words on my diary, we can all best this evil addiction.

paul

Yup. Its interesting - the similarities, it does make me wonder whether the psychology of gambling as an industry is targeting very specific traits (I dont mean people that play Badminton, but I wonder whether a mix of "enjoys X plyus Y plus 'fast paced competitive sports' plus etc etc adds up to a higher likelyhood of being susceptible to the gambling demons ?. Maybe I think too much).

Sounds like we both played at the same sort of level. Its a different game to what most people envisage isnt it 😉 .I think Ive played against some of the Irish national side when I played representing the strangely named "Southern Regions of England" (?) back in the day, but that would have been about 22 years ago now (god) so I probably missed you by a few years even if you made it over to the UK for tournaments.

Well done on getting back into it - i remember last time i tried (in the end the old injury stopped me just as I was starting to get properly back on my game unfortunately) the first game i played I literally *had* to stop as I was so out of breath and light headed three quarters of the way through a set. I just sat there like a wheezing old man, red in the face and unable to speak for about 5 minutes before I could leave the court. I fully intend to get back to some sort of exercise regime when work allows - I hate feeling unfit.

Hope you have had a good week mate, and you are keeping on top of things - long may it continue as you say.

Best Regards,

FM.

Hi Gav,

Just checking in mate, hows you ? all good I hope.

Best Regards,

FM