Hey Kstep,
Admitting to your friends and loved ones is one of the first steps to recovery (after admitting it to yourself). I’m sure you felt a huge sense of relief after telling them – I felt a lot better. Something that eats you up from the inside out, for that to finally be out in the open makes life that bit easier.
Congratulations on being gamble free for 4 weeks – that’s a big step. If you can do it for 4 weeks, you can do it forever. One day at a time. Every morning tell yourself “I will not gamble”, and add that day onto the gamble free counter. We can do this.
I also keep up with sports because before gambling I loved sports – watching and playing. It’s hard not to look at what matches are being played, and my first few weeks of being gamble free I also looked at matches and odds etc, but I have stopped doing that recently. I’m going to watch sports for what they are – entertaining and great acts of competition.
I’m glad my advice has helped – everyone on the forums here has been supportive, and I’m glad I can help another brother out.
It’s great to hear that you’ve got a start date! I am also going to be in Dudley on the 29th of August so sounds like we’ll be in together! I’ve spoken to Amy quite a bit this week and she has explained to me that there’s a games room (pool, table tennis, darts), a library, a 50inch TV, so we should be able to pass the time. She also said that after the first few weeks we are allowed to go to the local sports center which has squash and badminton – I am also worried about being locked up inside and not being able to do any sport, but by the sounds of things we will be able to go out and keep fit every so often. I’ve put in 10kg in the past 8 weeks (not sure how) which I am keen to lose as I’ve always been fit, in shape and the right weight.
Keep it up mate, you’re doing great.
See you in Dudley!
Take care, stay gamble free, one day at a time.
MrExon