the lows are too low

Hi and welcome to the forum

You will learn about one of the most dangerous addictions. Gambling is a drug addiction and it may be your tendency towards depression that is driving it.

You must detox now as it has new lows in store for you if you carry on.

You dont need to replace it with anything similar. You need to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures in life while your mind heals.

Compulsive gamblers have an ill relationship with life and therefore money..Money becomes tokens to get your fix until you realise its out of control. Such a powerful draw that we were back doing it again.

You mention a fast life like you are a jetsetter. This is no james bond movie and gambling destroys people

Do the exercises...write down what you have actually thrown away. Make no mistake you have given it away on those odds. Try and explain a gambling session to a non gambler. It make no sense and you will feel that you are telling them fairy tales as they stare at you blankly. Thats the constant reality check you need

There is no shame in facing bi polar and there is no shame in admitting that gambling had you addicted.

Please put the blocks in place. Tell people close. Its a born again moment and crucially it relies on total honesty.

You will heal. Im sure you dont like giving your money away but thats what you have been doing. Its complex and you need to start learning about addiction. Its a form of split mind control and its extremely dangerous.

If you stop now you can actually be thankful you havent experienced the next stage in the spiral downwards.

With the right support and frame of mind you will feel serene in a way you havent felt before.

Best wishes from everyone on the forum

thanks for the input joydivider

I noticed you have clocked up almost 3 1/2 years gamble free ? that is quite some achievement do you feel you have put it behind you now ?

i have been gambling for many many years with occasional breaks and financially i am not too bad off although  i put very little value in money

its more of the mental hold this has on me im not sure i will ever be able to forget about it and live a "normal" life

i take gambles in nearly every aspect of life and to change i assume would be to change who i am ?

i have to find a way to direct the energy used on gambling into something more productive

i still have some brain fog and minor trouble sleeping but i am feeling slightly better than i was on Monday

well its the first week i havent played online casino in a about 4 months 

temptations have been very very strong but luckily between myself and girlfreind we have managed to keep me occupied enough to disparage them 

i got caught out on wednesday with the europa leauge final a mate who works in the bookies convinced me arsenal were a cert ....not an excuse i know but 50 quid and 90 mins later i wish i had passed 

chelsea won 4-1 although i had tuned out by 3-0 as i was fed up of watching arsenal em-brass themselves 

i let it slide and have decided to try and abstain from football bets also 

still having some sleepless nights due to mind racing but there is a lot going on in life at the moment 

Well ive now not played online casino for over a week and ive not bet any more on football either since last week

I have plenty to keep my mind occupied at the moment I have had one or two thoughts about logging into a blackjack table but when I think about the bigger picture it is pretty futile so ive left it alone

My sleeping pattern seems to of just about got back to normal and the mind fog has cleared gambling definitely provides some weird hangovers

Will try to post again next week

I don’t know if anyone is reading this but I’m now roughly 3 weeks without a bet and although I have been too busy to think about gambling the urges have been very low

I think my main trigger Is definitely being stagnant if I’m not doing anything in life I seem to turn to gambling as an outlet to express myself

gambling has wasted an awful lot of my life already and I am determined not to let it waste anymore

If I want to really make something of myself in life I have to do it now

Onwards and upwards

Were definitely reading it GMTB 🙂

Totally agree with everything your saying , we really do need to keep our body and mind busy , what with the       " Devil and idle hand's " and all that 🙂 

3 week's is a huge foundation to work from buddy and it's now about going forward and seizing all the opportunity's that lay in front of you 🙂 .

Onward's and Upward's indeed . 

All the best bud 

Alan  

Plan plan plan, it helps , good luck mate let’s get through this together 

Day 30 a month pretty much a month away from gambling

Sleeping has improved dramatically patterns seem far more normal now

Probably because im not thinking about bets and live casinos 24 hours a day

The copa America is currently running and I wont lie on Saturday I was very tempted to punt on a game  luckily I told the mrs I was thinking about it and she put her foot down

Ive not really noticed any difference financially at the moment although payday is this week so we will see how july goes

Ive dreamt up a couple of business ideas with my spare time and hopefully I will be able to progress those in the near future

thanks for the comments

Well I am fast approaching 40 days GF and I will admit wholeheartedly I feel a lot better in myself and my mental state

I've had a busy weekend with too many drinks and im paying a heavy price this morning still better than a gambling binge come down

Still have some anger and patience issues but those are separate from the gambling

Temptation has been low to be fair I used to spend 2-3 hours a day on live online casinos now I barely think about it …..it really is a futile exercise

The football side of gambling is going to be much harder to ignore when the season starts  but I will have to cross that bridge when I come to it

So today is day 44 and I’m going to be honest and say I am starting to develop an itch so far I have managed to keep very busy and keep my mind off it all , But now I am starting to lust for some some excitement in life

I have a few projects running to supplement my main income but I’m finding my day job extremely boring & monotonous at the moment and I think this could be leading to some complacency in other areas of life

The thought of handing my notice in to my boss my cross my mind at least twice a day lately

But I fear the unknown and subconsciously would probably rather jump back into my gambling comfort zone

Must bring this to a conclusion soon

day 47 have managed to squash the itch i had earlier in the week 

financially ive not seen much difference yet as i always have money stashed away but i do FEEL a lot better in myself when not gambling sleeping pattern is a lot healthier and also my mood is a lot more stable 

i have an upcoming civil court case with a cowboy parking firm and that is playing on my mind at the moment , i am so frustrated that this government allows these crooks to pursue innocent motorists through small claims courts its absolutely disgusting 

whatever the outcome i would rather take the CCJ than pay the judgement although hopefully i will have an empathetic judge 

51 days without a bet not sure if its a new record for me as I have never counted before

but I would like to try and at least make it to 100 before I make that claim

its payday next week and theoretically I should start to see some financial benefits from living a gamble free lifestyle

I came very close to a lapse last night , girlfriend is working away and I was left on my own in front of the AFCON with a few beers

I just about managed to squash the urge and after watching Senegal & Tunisia I am very glad I di

d as it was one of the most rigged games of football I have ever witnessed in my life

have You put the blocks in place so you can’t gamble online?

its the only way mate, this is a life commitment, the benefits aren’t the money, the benefits will be you get the you back, a nice life , free from urges and waste, you get more life time too.

Hi buzz 

your entry’s are extremely positive you are definitely heading in the right direction.

Those temptations never seem to pass. Definitely they become less and less overtime it’s just finding the right things to stop those triggers from going back into a ridiculous dark situation 

the business idea could be a great thing for you. 

Going down that route myself has definitely kept me away from consistently  gambling everyday and has helped me starve the regular urges that I once had.  It will give you new purposes help with your mind keeping it active and positive.

It will also give better value for the money you earn out of it regardless the amount you make. 

I personally just need to add to things and start getting smarter when things are not going great and build on the road to recovery which we will achieve one day, however for me this addiction will always be lurking in the background 

keep up the good work it’s great to read your success