The road to becoming a winner

Hi James, thanks for your message

19 days today, well done, keep strong and stay positive nearly 3 whole weeks.

Suzanne xx

Day 20

Thanks Suzanne, feels good to be gamble free today. Not got a lot planned but need to nip in to town soon where I last gambled £350 in the bookies on FOBT's. Trying not to go if I can help it but if I do, I'll just take the cash I need and not take a card.

No major issues, should have been able to pay off £500 of debt this month for working Xmas Eve, Xmas day, boxing day and New years Eve and day. This was a long slog of shifts and missed out on quite a few family occassions. This sickens me to think a large portion of this money went on gambling!

Have to remain possitive though and keep up the fight.

No bets in 2015

James

Day 22

Over three weeks gamble free now and feel good for it. Need to make this work this time, can't afford to keep getting myself in this mess!

Looking forward to a few days off and plan to get out on my bike for a bit of training on some nearby hills and see my mates. Got to keep myself busy and away from temptation.

Went in to town yesterday which was the first time since I gambled more than £350 on an FOBT. I didn't buy anything in the end but it was a massive achievement to stay away from the bookies. I'm trying to relearn or retrain my mind to not associate a lone shopping trip with an opportunity to gamble.

Going to be a long tough road but the gambling route is a lot bumpier!

Thanks for reading

James

No bets in 2015

Well done James for going into town and resisting temptation. These small steps help us to achieve our ultimate goal. Thanks for the post and the advice. Really enjoyed game today. Thought Arsenal where brilliant and won easily in the end.

Day 27

Cheers Gregg, sounds like a trivial thing to go in to town and not gamble but this was a big thing for me. It was a good game, nice to watch it as a football fan rather than wishing a bet to come in.

No issues of late, not getting a great deal of temptations, I tend to gamble when I feel like i've recovered from gambling further down the line - as stupid as this sounds I actually convince myself I am 'cured' to get back in to gambling.

Onwards and upwards,

James

Hi James,

4 weeks tomorrow, well done. and to go into town where you gambled and had no nasty thoughts is not trivial at all, it shows how strong and positive you have now become.

Well done to you again.

Suzanne xx

Cheers for the post mate. James i think we all feel we can have a small bet the longer we go gambling free. The thing i have learned the most is it never stops at a small bet and we end up out of control. Our addiction never lets us stop at that the same way a recovering heroin addict can never go back for one small hit. I think as long as we continue to use these forums and remember what the addiction does to us personally then we have a great chance of beating this.

Day 30

Really appreciating the advice Gregg, NT and Suzanne. That's why I love this forum, people understand how big small acheivements are. A non-gambler would try and help but not understand the same way as someone who has been through it.

NT, everytime I go shopping it makes me feel sad the way the bookmaker takeover is allowed to happen. Nobody wants to see it, it makes nice towns look cheap and nasty. I read a post on here once about the fact you never see someone smartly dressed doing well at life in a bookies, it's so true when you look in and see the misery it causes.

No issues of late, got some promo offers through the post yesterday, I did read them and it was a good offer but didn't spend long thinking about it, just picked up the phone and got removed from the mailing list.

Onwards and upwards,

Thanks again for the support

No bets in 2015

James

Day 32

Over a month now and happy with progress so far. Not wasting time or money feels good, feels like i'm living again which makes for a much happier life. Managed to watch the Chelsea Liverpool game last night and just enjoyed it for what it was rather than wondering if a bets going to come in. Takes a lot to say that as a Liverpool fan too 🙁

Still no bets in 2015

James

Great work on 32 days James,the hardest month behind you.

Great to appreciate sport for what it is again and to be able to watch without being a nervous wreck.

Keep strong,all the best trigger.

Day 37

Thanks Trigger, your support is greatly appreciated!

Having the odd thought about gambling but nothing I can't manage. Life is hectic at the moment which is probably aiding my recovery. Finances are slowly recovering, well in fact at a very slow pace but I knew this wouldn't be easy. Hoping to be debt free around July time this year, this is by carrying on spending very little on myself and ploughing it all in to debt repayments.

Getting there though, onwards and upwards,

Still no bets in 2015

James

Hi james well done mate.was reading your page and like yourself I also wasted years and years of xmas money I got from family and my wife on this horrible illness.i have not placed 1 single bet from 12/07/14 so I to am hoping to get to july gamble free.what a xmas I had this year with my two kids and wife! WHY,because I chose not to place that 1st bet.take care mate and al the best in your recovery.

Day 41

Thanks for your support Scottyboy, well done on going so long without a single bet. I can only imagine how good that Christmas was, a lot less stessful than mine I bet! I like your reasoning for success being behind not making that first bet. It's so true, it's this first bet that is the start of a horrible and destructive spiral.

Work has kept me busy this week and well away from thoughts of gambling. I did have a spell of looking in to matched betting to take advantage of intro offers, I was annoyed at myself for even looking and allowing myself to become tempted. The one good thing is that I'm self excluded from almost every online casino going, which helped to steer off the urge.

Onwards and upwards, still no bets in 2015

Thanks for reading

James

Day 46

Still no bets in 2015. Going absolutely T-total is serving me well so far. In other attempts, I allowed myself to have the odd go on a fruity or buy a scratch card but I ended up doing these in excess as well. Having no form of betting or gambling in my life just makes sure I don't think about it as my gambling brain is not active.

Onwards and upwards, got to keep plodding on......

James

Hi James.

48 days, you sure are plodding along nicely,

Well done

Suzanne xx