Thank you for your input Geordie. What I’ve learned during my long long gambling addiction is that there’s no one right way to tackle it. We’re all different and although we share the same addiction and our stories are similar, there’s no universal way in combating it.
I also learned that if I have to fight the urge, I’m not doing it right. I know I will lose that fight sooner than later. ‘One day at a time’ might work for you and many others, but it doesn’t for me. For me it doesn’t really matter so much if I gamble 30 days a month or 2 days a month. I will lose maximum I could possibly lose for a given time period.
And fighting my cravings for 2 weeks and then finally giving in is no better than gambling every day and losing the same amount in the end.
But that’s me, everyone’s different.
Some things, like blocking access to funds and banning ourselves from casinos, are universal of course and are a must.
But tricking our brains successfully into not playing as opposed to having our brain trick us into playing is what varies and is probably different from cg to cg.
I wanted to gamble on January 1 around 3am when my wife and kid went to sleep. I really had a strong urge and I was sure I would play. I mean what kind of a compulsive gambler wants to gamble a couple of hours into a new year, when most people only start taking their vows and new year resolutions? But luckily I had uninstalled all gambling software and the prospect of reinstalling it triggered this thought in my mind that I really shouldn’t be doing it, that there’s no point in it. Instead I came to this forum, read a couple of posts and then shut down my computer.
I’ve been ok for the last couple of days and I had no cravings. Even when I thought about gambling it was like I couldn’t understand that I had been a slave to it for so long.
But I’m not kidding myself. I’m very wary. I’m not congratulating myself and I’m not tapping myself on the shoulder. I’m ok now and I hope I stay this way, but it’s too early to celebrate.
That book by Allen Carr helped me, I read it 3 times and then gambled extensively after the last time I read it. But it finally starts to sink in now, I think. We will see.
Only at day #18 today.