Student's recovery diary - I am a problem gambler.

Thanks for the words GT - I'll keep the 'time-location-money' triangle in mind. I'll be attempting to keep myself busy over the next few months by hopefully working to recouperate my losses.

Day 1 of no gambling is finished and I have had no urges. It helps that I have self excluded myself from all the betting websites that I can think of so it's a bit harder to gamble now.. I can't just login and start instantly.

I knew the first day would be easy. My true test will be when the novelty of 'quitting' wears off in a month or so and when I'm back at university. That will be the true test, the test of resisting urges when I'm out and about.

In addition to my goal of stopping gambling - Another one of my goals will be to attempt to get my bank account to a healthy 10,000£ whilst I'm at university. I am going to try and achieve this by working whenever I can. The big losses from gambling have hurt me bad but if I start earning a considerable amount of money the pain will soon heal

All the best, I'll be writing my next entry in about a week. Hopefully I will still be clean by then.

Hi Kanako and well done for spotting the signs at such a young age. I was CG at your age but it took me another 20 years to admit it.

GT has given you some great advise and I have done all the things mentioned above.

Your friend who said you was gambling to much seems to be a smart person I personally have found telling some people close to me a great help but that's an individual choice.

What I would say this site is a great help, read other diaries you will get ideas from other people and see how gambling can screw your life up if you don't reign it in now.

I would also say once a week to update your diary is not enough especially at the start.

I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing your progress

KTF

Day 2 of no gambling finished (yesterday)

I said I wasn't going to do daily updates but yesterday was quite significant. I went to watch a football match with my dad and he met some of his work friends at the pub. We discussed gambling for a bit i.e. 'Have I put any bets on the game today?' etc. My dad and his friends were talking about people from their work and how a few people were so addicted to gambling that they lost their wives, all their money, all their friends and eventually their job. It made me feel pretty bad for already losing so much money gambling by the age of 20

With that being said it has only made me more determined to not gamble again. Hopefully my bank account will look a lot better by the end of 2016.

Thanks all

edit: accidentally made this new post..oops

Hi, forget about the money you are giving up far more to gamble. Even at an early age you are showing the signs of compulsive gambling the 4k on roulette is right up there on the red alert list. In terms of money I have lost alot more but the thing I regret most is the time wasted. Gambling becomes all consuming school, holidays, girlfriends just about everything gets tossed aside for gambling. To be honest I don't really care what you do alot of students come on here and leave again just as fast. Everybody says "if I was your age". I doubt the advice is ever heeded sometimes you have to feel more pain before you realise the danger. But all I can say I am 36 I would not wish a gambling addiction on my worst enemy. I hope you hang round but if not always remember there is GA or come back here. Always hope even at the worst of times. At 20 your not even close to how bad this will get.

Hope you're still on track. Have a great New Year

Still on the straight and narrow (Day 6!), this is probably the longest time I've not been on a betting website since I turned 18

Already reaping the short-term rewards, my bank account isn't just an endless stream of outgoing transactions to the bookies, I don't cringe as much now when I login to my banking haha. I'm really happy that I've managed to go this long without even an urge but since I'm just sat at home on my computer on my own (I work online), there's not really that many triggers to gamble, self excluding myself from almost every betting website ever is enough to deter me from gambling.. for now

I start university again in about 2 weeks, I know at some point in the next 2-3 months I will be hit with an unbelievable urge to gamble.. Probably after a night out clubbing when I'm extremely drunk and not barred from one of the casino's, It's going to take a lot of willpower to say no, but I wouldn't want to lose the progress I've made so I know I will be able to resist

Happy new year all, here's to a gamble free 2016. 🙂

Hi, K,

You're doing well, keep going.

One day at a time is usually fine but sometimes forward planning can make a real difference to keeping the triangle broken.

How are you going to keep it broken when next term's maintenance loan comes through? You know that will power won't do it, can you move the money somewhere safe? Ask your family to drip feed it to you? If not then at least open an instant saver account, ie cashcard only and ask for a low withdrawal limit.

And all jokes aside, don't get involved in drunken nights out that end up in casinos. If you do, the inevitable will happen. Consider changing your circle of friends and your idea of a good night out for something that won't harm you.

Wish you well,

CW

Hi Kanako

Just wanted to say well done fir your early progress yiu are making. Keep this going and your bank balance will definitely improve. It really is lovely not to see any online betting sites on our online banking isn't it.

Take care

Feb.

Thanks guys, Currently on Day 12 of no gambling and it's been a tough few days

Boredem has kicked in and I actually logged into a new online casino, deposited money but I managed to restrain myself and I withdrew it without doing any gambling. My bank account remains intact (whats left of it) but it's a grim reminder that I need to keep 100% discipline if I want to overcome this problem, I permanently self excluded myself from that casino, so at least I got another online casino crossed off the list forever.

@Cynical Wife I do need to be cautious when my student loan comes in. I'm going to tell my friends about my mission to overcome gambling and they should hopefully understand, I'm just hoping I don't get too drunk one day whilst close to the casino and let the urges overcome me, I'm hopeful that it won't though, the more progress I make the stronger I will become!

Hi, again, K,

My son's also at uni, on the other side of the fence because his father relieved him of his savings. No temptation there but my son chooses his friends and his social life, presumably you do too? I gather that he's is never short of opportunities to go out with friends - too many in my opinion. But he doesn't lose control, he doesn't like it.

If you're committed to recovery, don't put yourself in a situation where you risk losing control. However boring that may be.

I heard a GA member say that he wants to stay dry, therefore he avoids wet places. Alan puts it the other way round: if you hang around a barber's, you end up having a haircut.

Stay safe,

CW