Hey Everyone,
I know it's a big week for everyone trying to continue on their road to recovery. I won't upset anyone by mentioning any specifics, but historically this week would have probably been my favourite of the year. I know that sounds silly as you would expect people to mention birthdays, Christmas, summer holidays etc, but if I am being totally honest, this week was my favourite one of the year. This will be my second year to abstain from this particular week and I have to say that I found this one harder than the last. Feeling a bit "empty" at the minute. I know it will pass and I'll be grand by tomorrow I'd say, but just in this moment it can be tough as invariably a lot of memories etc will go through your head.
Now I am under absolutely no illusions that all these "memories" that I will have will be romanticised to the zenith and I will be no doubt forgetting other times where the memories were not so grand, of which were more than the ones which were positive. Anyway I am reminding myself of all the good things that have come from my recovery and I am just wishing anyone that has endured a hard week that they are doing ok and to remind themselves that it is for the best, even if at the moment it's a tough one to swallow.
All the best,
Happy
@happy123 I've heard it said so many times within the GA rooms that certain times of year are always associated with different meetings and in my head I certainly romanticised the occasion, because despite my best intentions to alway stick to the better races or grade 1 races or whatever I planned in my head, because of my addiction I barely got to the main meeting. I would find anything else before hand to try to win a bigger stake for the main races but it never happened. If there was a race somewhere else at 2.50pm and the main race was at 3.00 I would find a dog meeting at 2.52pm, another one at 2.58pm, maybe a virtual race at 2.57pm and then the fobt for a minute before the race started.
It was mental and manic and I am glad I do not go through that every day now.
I hope you don't either.
Chris.
@happy123 I feel it too. I've only stop gambling 10days ago I was totally grand up until the big race today. I had to go for a jog to get away to clear the head lol. Keep at it, well that's what I'm saying to myself
@martin1982 @ happy123 Greetings from Ireland. I'm currently on a GA call. This is my first time in 25 years not watching cheltenham or betting on it either being there or at home. I came back in to GA here after Christmas posted on here on Dec 29th after a major binge. Now 80 days gamble free. I truly loved cheltenham and horse racing but my compulsive gambling nearly destroyed me and my family so i am sticking to the GA program and keeping away from watching racing. Im much happier tonight and calm even though today i felt I was missing out on all the hype and fun. Worth it and I will have a smallglass of wine to celebrate my first ever year abstaining from cheltenham. Enjoy the weekend and the rugby.
Thanks for the response folks. @chris-uk I know exactly what you mean about not having the discipline to actually retain your money for the event that it was for. I would even do that if I was betting on a rugby match where I would fancy a team to win, so I would back them accordingly, however, I often found myself not being able to wait the full 80 mins for a result to my bet and I would invariably also bet on the same team to win the first half also. This would either lead to me losing on the double or losing one or the other, and on the off chance winning both. When I step back and look at that behaviour now, it's a wonder that I told myself for a long time that I did not have a problem. Even in the lead up to Cheltenham which was my biggest financial outlay of the year, I would "eat" into my pot on nonsensical wagers before the event which would enrage me and I would then already be on the back foot. As you say, it's manic behaviour and thankfully that isn't part of my life at the minute.
Cheers, Happy.
Thank you for visiting my diary Happy. I appreciate your support.
I enjoyed reading the posts on this thread and can identify with the points raised.
The life stories I have read on the gamcare forum have convinced me that I must stay away from gambling.
Aum
We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.
