[alice]

Hey Bettie,
It took me 6 months from being told that I could self exclude from casinos to actually doing it. Like you my brain was saying go and do it that way you won’t have to battle with temptations but my cg head was telling me all kinds of things such as: but what if you want to go in with friends just for a drink, if you exclude yourself you’re not really stopping gambling yourself, where’s your will power come into this if you exclude you’re just proving to yourself you’re weak and what if you just want one more little bet. They came thick and fast. Any excuse out there and I would latch onto it. In the end I told my cg brain yes it’s right I am weak when it comes to not being able to gamble and my will power is very weak but if I don’t exclude myself then i’m just being weaker. I told my cg brain that I was going to control it rather than it controlling me and I went and did it. I was sooooo relieved. Was THE single best thing I’ve done in my recovery. When it comes to stopping gambling will power is often not enough for anyone. Giving yourself that breathing space is what you need so that you can take a step back from gambling to then begin to work on the issues that may have caused you to gamble in the first place and the issues that have arose because of the gambling. I think you know all of this already just can be helpful to hear it from someone else from time to time to strengthen that brain of yours and weaken the cg head.
Hope it all goes well.
alice x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

hey kathryn,
i’m so pleased that things went well with your son. Things are often better in actuality than how we think they are going to go. My god just look at the stress i’ve felt about work recently for it all to turn out fine in the end. well work wise anyway! Just wanting my mood to pick up too now.
Have a great time at your father in laws. I hope you have a good time catching up with your family and it’s god fun.
Alice x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

Hey kathryn,
you have done all you can do. you asked the school to keep an eye out for him and i’m sure they will do that. as you say he needs to face up to what he has done and that includes dealing with the consequences. but of course you will worry.
let us know how he got on when he gets home.
alice x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

Hey Kathryn,
Sending you big virtual hugs over the ocean to you. I hope that you’ve managed to get some rest and the sleep you got was quality sleep.
You’re doing well and you haven’t gambled so actually you’re doing more than well yo’ure doing fantastic! I hope that things with Bailey will begin to turn the corner soon and start getting better. I know that when you’re in the middle of a crisis it feels there’s no way out but things can start to turn around and I believe you have the strength to make them do so.
Take care and make sure that you look after yourself and give yourself some treats from time to time!
Alice x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

hey bettie,
81 days wow that’s fantastic! Well done for staying clean for that long even though you’ve had some pretty rough times during that period. I hope that it proves to you that you can do it whatever life throws at you.
I sympathise with the exercise thing. I’m a lazy bum and do very little exercise – well to be honest I do zilch!
Remember to do something that you enjoy at least once a day though! That’s the only way you’re going to start enjoying life. If all you do are things that you find a chore then your life isn’t going to be that happy is it?!
I hope you have a good day,
alice x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

Hi Bettie,
It sounds like it was a moving and difficult group. But as you say all the tragedies bring home to us how close we all may have got to that point. It’s good that we haven’t been driven to those actions though and that we are working towards a fulfilled life without room for gambling.
It was good to chat with you in the chatroom and helped me to stay calm!
Have a good day,
Alice x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

hey bettie i’m sorry you’re feeling so awful. i was going to say try and hang in there but i don’t think that’s something that you want to hear or that is going to be very helpful to you. i guess all i can say is keep posting because there is me and other people here listening to what you are saying. maybe that at least may help you not feel so alone.
alice"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

Hi Kathryn,
It was good to see you in earlier today and thanks for listening to me rant! Hope you’re doing good,
Alice x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

Hey Kathryn,
I’m glad your son is co-operating with the grounding. Hopefully you’ll hear back from the school regarding counselling for him. I know it’s a worry for you when your children don’t seem to be happy or when there are problems but I’m sure you will get him through this period just fine. You love him and I’m sure he knows that you do and with the help and support you are offering him along with the school he will surely move forward.
Wishing you a good day
alice x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

Hey Bettie
It’s great to feel so adamant that you definitely don’t want to live like that again!
I hope your tummy is feeling better. Hey we all need to whine from time to time goodness knows I do it enough! there’s a million and one things i feel pissed off with at work at the moment and I didn’t get chance to have lunch yesterday myself either. It’s **** when managers aren’t sympathetic either isn’t it?!
Hope you have a good rest of your day
alice x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

hey it sounds like you’ve had a great weekend! I’m jealous, i really want to see mary poppins but it doesn’t seem to be on in london anymore.
glad things are working out with your son.
have a good week
alice x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

Hey Kathryn how did it go with son and his school the other morning? hope you are well. remember you can get through this tough time. you have been through a lot and you can continue to do so. we’re here for you x"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

Hi Bettie,
It was good to see you in the chat room the other night. I’m glad you had a good weekend. I can’t say that camping is one of my favourite holiday activities but I completely understand why a lot of people do enjoy it! We’ve had amazing weather here over the last week or so too. A lot warmer than normal although the temperature has dropped the last day. I think autumn and winter is truly beginning to set in now!
Alice x
 "Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

Hey Kathryn,
First of all congratulations on the arrival of your new great niece. I thought I had lots of nieces and nephews with 7 of them but 21 great nieces and nephews wow! Mind you in 30 years time if all my nieces and nephews have 3 children each I’ll have 21 great nieces and nephews too won’t i?! Did you visit her on Friday? Is she very cute? My youngest nephew turns 6 months old next week. He is very cute. I’m going to visit my sister a week on saturday and she has 3 children. They are 6,4 and 2 years old. they never fail to make me smile and laugh.
As for your son, I can’t imagine what you are going through. I don’t know what it is he has done but I’m sure with your love and support him and all of you involved will be able to move forward from it. I think one of the most important things in these situations is to keep the lines of communication open. Talk with your husband, family you can trust and your of course your son. I wish you all the luck.
Alice x
 "Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[alice]

Oooooo Kathryn love the galapagas tortoise thing! I’m going to google him in a minute! But just to let you know that Paul the psychic octopus has also predicted Spain to win and he did so in just 3 minutes which apparently very quick! So unfortunately it looks like I’ll be supporting the wrong team tomorrow!"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Author]

Posts