So far so good

Day 18 done!

Kept myself ridiculously busy lately, enjoying the freedom of not gambling. Couldn't be further from my mind at the moment.

3 weeks gamble free

23 days down. Easy stuff so far.

Just checking in, 27 days done. Really enjoying being back off the gambling, determined the stick it out for good this time

30 days without a bet. Crossed my mind briefly today, just before the football started. Popped on here for 10 minutes instead, killed any urge.

Back to the start.

World Cup was never gonna be easy. Stupidly allowed myself to have access to money. Very little financial damage done, but same old story of head stuck in my phone, rather than spending time with my wife.

Refocus, start again. Step one, fully close my own bank account, transfer all direct debits to our joint account. Will come on every day for 5-10 minutes to read others posts, contribute, and add updates to my own diary.

Time to start this again.

Thought I had a handle on things, was happily ticking along, allowing myself a small sport bet here and there. Inevitable when I look back at it, but i obviously got carried away and slipped back into old ways. I’ve had it in my head for a while that I need to stop, but I didn’t, just carried on. In the grand scheme of things, I haven’t added to the debt I already had, but it’s probably £2000 of money I could have used to clear some debt, over the past 3-4 months.

Going to get back to what helped me stop for a year before.

- reading on the forum every day, usually first thing in the morning, then in the evening.

- set myself jobs around the house(wife wants to redecorate our bathroom, started that last night after putting it off for a few weeks)

- i need to look into some form of block for online gambling, for iPhone. I’m excluded from a ridiculous amount of online companies, but there’s always one more to be found.

- rejoin the gym - it’s been a while

Quick update, just registered with Gamstop.

3 days gamble free, feels nice to say. Tiny amount, but it’s a start. Very productive few days behind me. Busy weekend ahead.

Day 5 today, really feels like baby steps compared to when I previously got past the one year mark.

Tempted to get involved in the chat room soon, never did that on my previous time here.

Also quite keen to read a bit more about addiction, hopefully to gain more of an understanding of what I’m battling. Any website/online article recommendations would be welcomed. Might be useful to look at things from a different perspective. I’m also reading Allen Carr, The easy way to stop Gambling.

First real test today - going to watch football.

Determined not to gamble

Hi good luck, I just watched part of a game on TV with my little boy. No real urges, which is good, just a sadness that watching sport, lie of my favourite hobbies, is associated with my greatest weakness. Either way, it went smoothly, I just have to minimise exposure. Much mire to life

I Knkw what you mean about always being able to find one more site, if you look, you find. The key is to never look, and if you find yourself looking, just imagine yourself already 1000 down. If you stop looking and return back to the forum without starting, you have recovered your losses and back to being wonderfully GF 🙂

Thanks JuneBug

All went well, didn’t give myself the opportunity to call into a bookies. Always used to find a way to make sure we’d pass on en route to the stadium. Also received a few tips from a friend of a friend in the know. Passed them on, avoided the urge myself. Didn’t miss out on anything special.

6 days gamble free, including a massive first test , PASSED!

Great news. Now repeat over and over again till we control this thing forever. Please stay vigilant, after good days I find sometimes I'm at my most vulnerable, the euphoria of not gambling makes you wanna gamble hahaha

Productive start to being GF. Finally decorated a room I’d been promising to do at home for a while, including giving a little touch up to some furniture - all looks brand new. Been to watch my football team for the first time in a year, bought tickets to go again next week. Took the dog for two big walks, really enjoying the weather. Plenty of visits to the gym, and just sat down to watch a film I’ve wanted to see for about a year.

8 days GF