the first day of the rest of my life

Congratulations maddie...best wishes on your new job...we can do this 🙂

Hi Maddie,

Hope your still buzzing with happiness!! i love your post where you say you want a new car and a holiday.

Its so very important that you have things to look forward to things that you can dream off because if you dont know where you are going ,you will end up some place else! (i read that somewhere!! probably on the train!)

love to you maddie success is within our reach!!!

Linda x x

still on cloud 9 today mixed with a bit of oh god I hope I can do it and not let myself down. Whenever my life has been good in the past my self destruct button normally goes off and I ruin things, I hope one day I get to understand why that is. I am so determined this time to keep a focused clear head, because at 57 I am not going to get many more work chances like this one. Gambling MUST stay out of the picture for me to succeed. onwards and upwards, all you folk out there are helping me to do this, I value that so much, we have connections and in most cases, no faces, but it works somehow. I am getting more from this than GA, although I loved some of the people there, being the only woman put me at a disadvantage somehow. Perhaps that was just in my head. Thank you Linda you are right we are a team looking after each other...........xxxx

Big congrats Maddie!

That is great news, I am sure you are on a high and no-one or nothing can bring you down. You must feel really good, you have your gambling under control and this new job will make you more financially secure. Best of luck and I wish you loads of success x

Hey Maddie,

Absolutely delighted to hear you've got the job you were after, we'll all be rooting for you, and I'm sure with gambling off your mind you can excel at it!

Your post about what you aim to do with the money, along with what preoccupies my thoughts, and many others on here makes me think about all the we deny ourselves through gambling.

By grasping the nettle of quitting gambling in one hand, all the good things can come to be in the other.

All the best Maddie, and again, my congratulations, I hope you can treat yourself to a little something to celebrate!

Ryan

They used to say at GA if you do the right thing then the right thing will happen...and that seems to be working, or does it just come with having a clear head and not doing daft things to obtain money to feed the demon!

It is 8 weeks today, can I call it 2 months yet ....sounds longer somehow.

If only the great gaping hole that is my daughter was to close up and not be such a festering wound then life would be on the up definately. My husband says I must stop pushing her and let her come back in her own time, but what if she never comes back?? What if it is like this forever? We have been back and forth for 2 years now, up and down and round and round ...we are still no nearer being friends.

it kills me ........... but on the positive I have a new job to focus on and that will keep my brain occupied for a while!

Hi maddie,

Just a quickie, about your daughter, no one knows the answers to what if's!!! i know its hurting you and you are in such a good place now you want everything to be right. You are doing everythig you can to make amends, i think your husband is right and you perhaps should just step back and give her time. Spending your time worrying about what if's is wasting time you could be enjoying!! I know i would be heart broken too and i really feel for you but i think you do kow that now you are going to have to just let her make her own mind up so take it easy on yourself!!

Enjoy today its going to be agood one!!

love linda x x x x

Thank you Linda, you always manage to say the right thing to stop me feeling sorry for myself!! loads of Love Maddie xxx

Hi maddie.

Brilliant...8 weeks or two months.Fantastic.

Hope all goes well with your daughter and that you guys find some sort of equal ground!

Can't be easy....

Well done on your new job.....hope all works out for you and its a great achievement to have come so long with out gambling. 8 weeks be proud!

Have a great weekend in the sun.

Stay strong

Gamble free

Viggo.

Really nice sunny weekend, didnt see my grandson on Sat which was a shame, but he had a prior engagement, hopefully not being kept from me because no 2 daughter is cross. Really looking forward to starting my new job next week and with a clear head that is going to stay put.

met another Gamcare member for lunch today which was so nice to be able to connect with someone who has done similar things seems to make things better for me and endorses that really nice people do get hooked on this d**n gaming lark, and that we are not bad people we just do bad things sometimes to feed an addiction.

so proud also that I have held onto insurance money for 3 days and not spent anything on unnecessary stuff.

Hi Maddie,

Well done for hanging on to your insurance money! that is a really good thing and you should be very proud - perhaps now though you should let it go and put it in husbands bank and just forget about it. I know thats easier said than done but it is worth a try, you will be so happy when the money has gone where you have planned for it to go, others will be happy to see you are doing the right thing too.

I realy hope you enjoy your new job, you are not a bad person so dont get falling into that self fulfilling prophechy, start with the positive attitude you showed them at your interview, they will love you as you are a lovely lady.

We are on our way!!

still suburt - ha ha must be aother hob ob crumb!!!

lots of love

linda x x x

2 days into my new job, and am totally immersed so apologies if I am not supporting people at the moment, I will catch up on the weekend. It is so weird this not gambling to find my purse still with the same amount of money in as on sunday is so odd! Normally money in money out, 30 days to next payday, then the whole scheming thing to work out how to obtain money for the month, I wish someone could explain to me why I would think that life is better than this one I am leading now. Proper job, money in the bank, family debts almost paid off, I am never going back down that slippery slope. When I was on m40 on Sunday and passed the service stations I was so sure that I wouldnt go in and play in the arcades, and I didnt but I would like to get to a place where I wouldnt even connect a service station with a slot machine!!! will that happen i wonder?

Hi Maddie

Glad to see the job is going well.

I like your determination already you have decided you are not going back to the gambling life you led before.A lot of people would say they dont want to gamble again but you have decided already that you wont.Well done Jeff.

Hello Maddie,

I know you are working hard in your new job so i thought i would post on your diary to bring you back on the first page!!

Those connections with old haunts (gambling venues!!) do pass with time and the feeling that you get now is not one that lasts for ever. Eventually there will be no attraction at all it will just be like walking past someone you used to know, you will recognise it but then nothing, there will be no atraction or magnetism.

Hope you can post again soon i am sure lots of people are wandering (wondering?) how you are doing.

I know you are doing fab!! i have faith in you!!

love linda (Dolly 1)) x x x

I have had a really good week workwise and I think I may have hit the jackpot this time, without losing any money!!! I have had a few urges to deal with particularly today but they can bog off outta here, because I am not interested. 9 weeks today is a a milestone for me and I must keep on this straight path. i do feel proud of what I have achieved with the help of you all and I am now going to spend sometime catching up with everyones diaries.