1 YEAR GF!!!

Well done!

Great achievement. Be proud! 

Posted by: DaveS1988

Hi all,

The title says it all! This time last year I was at rock bottom and I'd started my journey to being free from hell. 

With the right blocks in place, and the love and support from family or friends or the brilliant people on this website anyone can rid of this illness if they really truly want to. I won't get complacent... I am still a compulsive gambler and I always will be. But to all that are struggling at the moment take it from me, life is better now. 

As a gambler you forget what life is supposed to be like. Don't be afraid to find out! Every day I win because I haven't gambled. 

Much love to you all 🙂

Dave.  

Well done Dave fantastic, keep up the good work

Many congratulations Dave, it is fantastic to hear inspirational stories. I hope you are doing something nice for yourself today!

Well done on hitting the year.   Those first steps, and those first days, are definitely the hardest they say, and that after a while a new you becomes the norm.

Be proud it's an achievement worth celebrating 

Well done ?? 

Hi Dave, firstly congratulations, you should be so proud! Its an inspirational story and will definitely help others through their journey!  I've also been gambling free for 23 months now. This is my story........

I started gambling (on line bingo) back in 2013, this was controlled at the time and was something that I enjoyed. In 2014 there were a lot of changes going on at work, new manager and hospital moved location (I work in Mental health). I started to suffer with stress and anxiety and to escape from life’s pressures I frequently turned to gambling. I was taking more time off work, becoming socially isolative and more depressed. I knew I had a gambling addiction when I spent every penny of my wages within a few days of being paid at New Year, that was when I knew I had to tell my closest friends I was addicted to gambling. They were extremely understanding and vowed to help me but like anyone with an addiction you begin to lie, sneak around, basically do anything for that fix so my relationship with friends were affected.

Work was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on, also my own feelings of shame and guilt stopped me from talking to people and seeking help. When I eventually told my Manager I unfortunately didn’t get the support I needed at that time, I continued to struggle through everything while trying to hide my addiction from friends and work colleagues.

Things turned around at work when I was sent to occy health and was diagnosed with a mental health problem (depression and anxiety) and my gambling addiction was acknowledged and discussed in depth.

This was a turning point for me, I looked at what was causing me to be unhappy and one of the main problems was where I lived. I had never been happy in the house I’d bought in 2007 and looking back It was around this time I started suffering from depression but thought I was managing this. I had missed payments on my mortgage due to the gambling and also the value of it had dropped considerably. I sought advice and eventually decided to voluntarily surrender my keys so I just walked away from the house and rented a lovely little flat nearer to my friends and work. My happiness was more important than having a mortgage.

This was another turning point for me with regards to my gambling addiction. I knew I had to seek help and look at ways of how I could help myself. I decided the best thing for me to do would be to exclude myself from all gambling sites. I researched different websites and eventually chose Gamstop (free). This has been my life line, I excluded myself for 5 years and believe me for the first week after I registered (it was very much like cold turkey) I tried to join different sites to try and play bingo and It would not let me. I can not recommend this site enough, it has probably saved my life and the sad thing is its not advertised and talked about enough.

I have had various therapies including CBT and EMDR, this helps my thought process and also helps me deal with stressors of everyday life. Throughout what I can only describe as a catastrophic time in my life, I lost friendships, ended up in debt (I had 12 payday loans at one time), couldn’t afford to eat, lived a very lonely life and suffered from depression. I look back at all these things and think about all the people out there who are going through the same, honestly with the right tools, help & support you can overcome your addiction but first and foremost you need to want to!

I’m not going to lie, its been hard and sometimes I have fleeting thoughts about gambling, especially as the tv is full of adverts for on line bingo sites. Every time I think about gambling I just remember my lowest point then, and at what I have now, my lovely flat, money in the bank again and most importantly my happiness!

Dee

Hi DaveS1988

Congratulations on being one year gamble free - a fantastic achievement and quite rightly something that you should be proud of. Well done!

Forum Admin.

Hi all,

Thanks so much for the kind words. Have a lot to thank this site for and will continue to log in and help others on their journeys.

@dee1970 well done on nearly reaching two years! Like you I joined Gamstop for 5 years and that certainly helped massively. I have to say I don't get urges to gamble anymore, I feel very far removed from it. If I see an advert on TV I look at it in disgust now. I can't help but still feel guilty for the pain I caused my family, my partner and friends. I owe it to them to continue on this successful path and I know I would lose them all if I were to gamble again. That's enough for me. 

Cheers,

Dave.