Success I think

Reddy

There are a lot of people here who "fall off the wagon" from time to time with the gambling but the majority of them are remorseful enough to say they have relapsed. They may have gone 400 days like you but they start all over again with recovery and their main goal is to kick the habit completely and they want to stay out of dire financial situation with themselves and their families. In a way I can see your thinking that because you have gone 400 days without gambling it will be ok to start again and because you have gone 400 days you feel you may be more in control, but are you really?. All I am going to say to you is you were right to say that 400 days gfree was a success but I personally found the fact that you did not treat this as a relapse very worrying. I worry for you because it takes a hell of a lot to get to that 400 days and worry for you slipping back into the old emotions of when you get more hooked and all the financial worries come back. I think you need to go right back to the beginning of your posts and read them all through again. It is a hard task if you are tying to tackle this problem on your own and if you are left to your own devices. I really hope you will be ok.

. Therefore I am determined to make this a success story and return to this in 400 days or so and be at a stage where this recreational bet remains the only one. .........is Reddy not saying that his intention is for that to be a one off? I don't know how it will work out for you Reddy, I hope well. If you find yourself slipping back into frequent uncontrolled gambling I hope that you recognise it early and arrest it. I think some lessons we have to learn for ourselves, we have to find what our boundaries are. I wish you well.

Hi Rhoda,

Yep a one off 100% correct. It was a considered approach to take the day counter back to 0 as the Masters was a tournament I actually got satisfaction from betting on, rather than a knee j**k bet or playing roulette/blackjack just because you can't stop....

I understand fear of a relapse to old habits playing online live casino. But the reality is I am no more in danger now with an account open than I was all the way through the 400 days of not blocking gambling sites. Will power will preavail and I will work hard to keep this as a one off.

Hope my intentions have been explained and apologies if anyone was mislead. And yep maybe naive after 1 day but the point was that I saw as a success was that I was thinking rationally again about money and could visit a gambling site in a relatively safe manor and not getting sidetracked down a darker path....

Hi,

Just checking in 86 days clocked up since the considered decision to place a bet back in April.

Can't say I think about gambling too much, never been much into horse racing so Ascot wasn't an issue. I guess I've almost reset the way I think about sports too and don't see it as a way of making a few quid for myself. I hope I continue to feel that way as watching the football was always tempting for a bet....

Also Still got the casino ban thing in place which is a big help.

Hope everyone's journeys/missions is going GFree as planned.

Hi All,

132 days clocked up again, discipline going strong still, not even bothered with the lottery. 1 bet in total since Feb2016.

That said I'm still not the finished article by a long shot. Im wondering if there's any voulenteering endorsed or reccomended by Gamcare? I'd like to give something back, wether it be helping out in some GA way or at a homeless shelter or something? If there's any nationwide schemes or websites with info it would be much appreciated if you could link it.

I'd like to give something back and make myself a better person. I'm basically feeling like a young guy that's always had everything he's ever wanted and had it easy...I'm feeling guilty of that and I need to take an opportunity to help others before I decide i don't like the person I've become even more. I'm young, healthy and physically fit, no real excuse not to find a day a week to lend a hand....

Hi Reddy

You are proof of that old saying "If at first you don't succeed - try and try again and keep trying". Well done on the 132 gfree days and hopefully many more to come. NCVO is a good place to start with the volunteering. They provide info on all the basic stuff about voulunteering. I supposed Gamcare are the people to ask about volunteering to put back into helping people with gambling. You will probably find loads of organisations in your local area as well. I have done volunteering myself in the past and any training I received immediately gave me a little more confidence and the whole experience of helping out kept me busy and I met some really interesting people. I would recomend giving it a go to see how you get on. Life is too short not to try new things to make your life bettter don't you think?

Good luck and take care.

gamparentanon wrote:

Life is too short not to try new things to make your life bettter don't you think?

Good luck and take care.

Thanks Gamparent, very helpful post. Much appreciated.

Christmas is over and during the day similar themes came up pretty much mirroring my thoughts in my last post....

2018 I aim to act on the volunteering and give something back and hopefully learn and progress myself in the process. It may prove to be that peice of me that I feel is missing amongst all the other great things in my life.

Hope all have made good progress and a G Free Christmas period is progressing well.