Thanks sad68. I’ve gone months without gambling before, but this is the first time that I do that on my own. In the past I would make bet with a friend where he gives me 1 euro not to gamble and if I do gamble I have to give him 20K.
It worked for a while like a charm, but in the mean time I started nagging him to give me a break and he agreed but asked me not to ask him for that deal any more.
So, yes, 28 days on my own is pretty good and I feel pretty good about it. One thing I realized while chatting at the support group, and I never really considered it before; Charles did a really good job explaining it – I need continuous support. I now realize I can never say “ok, i’m cured, i never need to look back and I can go on with my life like I never gambled”.
I’m sure there are people out there who are able to do so, but I think they probably haven’t been problem gamblers for decades like myself.
So yes, coming here helps me and reading posts is a constant reminder of what will happen should I go my old ways.
And I’m in no way out of danger. 28 days in grand scheme of things is very little. It is just a prerequisite in order to even start considering a therapy – it is just a beginning.
We’ll see. As I said before I’m very wary.