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Days Since Last Betting: 4

Last night, I attended the New Members and Practical Advice Group with some good advice shared as usual. On Saturday, I plan to attend a regular SMART meeting, looking forward to getting more information on that.

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Hi Lewsi,

Welcome to the forum, well done on taking a positive step, and glad to hear that writing it down feels like a weight off your shoulder.

You are not alone, like you, I have been gambling for many many years which escalated into a real problem before eventually looking for support to help with it.

For next steps, and to continue moving in the right direction, I would recommend attending one of the New Members Practical Advice groups, that are held on Mondays and Thursday. There you can get some excellent advice, and tips on what you can do immediately to help with the problem.

I plan to attend the one tonight that is on at 19:00(UK), hopefully, I will see you there.

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Привет, Левси, добро пожаловать на форум, молодцы, сделали позитивный шаг, и рад слышать, что его записывание ощущается как груз с вашего плеча. Вы не одиноки, как и вы, я много лет играл в азартные игры, которые переросли в настоящую проблему, прежде чем в конечном итоге обратились за поддержкой, чтобы помочь с этим. Чтобы сделать следующие шаги и продолжить движение в правильном направлении, я бы порекомендовал посетить одну из групп практических советов для новых членов, которые проводятся по понедельникам и четвергам. Там вы можете получить отличный совет и советы о том, что вы можете сделать немедленно, чтобы решить эту проблему. Я планирую посетить вечерний вечер, который состоится в 19:00 (Великобритания), надеюсь, я увижу вас там.

[G Rec]

Days Since Last Betting: 3

Happy with another day gamble-free yesterday. I attended a SMART introductory meeting which I found useful, it is not something that would be a replacement for Journaling, and meetings etc, but there are some useful tools that could potentially complement support from elsewhere.

Today I will attend a group here, either the New Members Practical Advice or the drop-in.

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Hi astrofly,

Thanks for the encouraging words.

“You can only control one day at a time. Make a promise to be better than you were yesterday.” – This is really strong advice and something that is a big part of my approach at the moment, at the end of each day that is gamble-free, I say that’s one more day in the right direction, let’s do the same again tomorrow.

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Hi Wally,

Thanks for the kind words and I am glad to hear that you have found the thread useful. As you will see in my latest post, I did, unfortunately, slip a few days ago and am now only 2 days gamble-free. You mentioned you are on Day 4 so hopefully, we can both continue on our gamble free journey from here and see that number rise and rise.

[G Rec]

Days Since Last Betting: 2

Yesterday went ok. Still feeling pretty down from my most recent slip-up but happy with my progress (albeit short) since then. I stuck to my timetable and put in time for GT tasks including exploring the SMART recovery program (Self Help Addiction Recovery) which looks very interesting. There is an introductory meeting later today which I plan to attend to see if it might be a good fit to complement the forums and meetings I am already participating in.

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Hi chell234,

Welcome to the forum and well done on taking a positive step towards becoming gamble-free.

I think many gamblers myself included can associate with our friends and family wanting the best for us and providing advice, but at the same time not having a full understanding of what we are going through. That is where forums like this and/or meetings can help fill that gap, everyone here is going through gambling recovery and so we can generally relate to each other’s situations., feelings, etc and provide advice.

You asked specifically about starting out the unknown journey ahead, I would recommend attending the New Members Practical Advice groups as a great starting point that are held on Mondays and Thursdays where you can receive some great advice on how to start your Journey.

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Hi wally,

Sorry to hear that you had a slip at the weekend and went gambling, I am also sorry to report that I had a bad slip yesterday and am back to 1-day gamble-free.

Like you, I am working hard to try to prevent this from happening again. Here’s hoping (and working towards) us both staying Gamble Free , and hitting some Gamble Free milestones together.

[G Rec]

Days Since Last Betting: 1

Yesterday was a bad day for me with a huge slip in the space of 24 hours, I lost all of my wages and managed to borrow some money to lose more.

I am feeling very disappointed in myself, but I have been trying to put in as much work as I can to try and start moving back in a positive direction. My in progress and plans for positive steps so far include

• Created a finiancial inventory + a six month payments plan that will get me back debt free and with some savings
• Increased Journal posts
• Start tracking days since having last gambled, this is not something I have done in the past specifically but others have recommended it as an added motivation to stay gambel free as you don’t want to see the number reset to 0
• Closed betting accounts
• Attend More meeting
• Start looking more at the 12 steps program and incorporating
• Added barriers to prevent the access to funds on pay day</ii>
• Create a timetable for each day to try and add more structure and limit having time where there is nothing to do

I also attended the topic group on here last night which was a big help. The group was kind and allowed me some time at the start to explain my recent slip and provide advice before the topic began which was very helpful, and then the topic itself was also constructive.

The topic was on Positive Self Talk. Some of the key takeaways for me were

• Try and rephrase things we say about ourselves in a more positive and constructive light. For example, rather than saying ” “I am such an idiot for betting, I have made such stupid mistakes: instead say “I acknowledge that I have made mistakes in the past but I am working hard to make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again, and to amend where possible for any pain those mistakes caused others”
• When speaking with partners or friends about mistakes made, try and use a similar approach along the lines of “yes you are right, I did XYZ but I can’t change that, now I am doing ABC, is there anything else you think we can be doing”
• Accepting positives and praise from others is important
• Try and replace guilt/shame/embarrassment with pride in having to face a tough decision

[G Rec]

This week has gone ok so far. I attended the topic group on Monday which was on Motivation and had a great discussion there. The key takeaways for me were something that was brought up the last time we had this topic discussion but need reminding of is that our motivations can and probably should change over time. When we first start trying to live gamble-free, the main motivator for most people is getting out of the terrible situation that they are in because of gambling. Over time, however, as the situation improved if you stay gamble-free, this motivator is not as strong as it once was, and if you don’t find new motivations, this could impact recovery.

I also continued watching the video on mindfulness strategies, this is not an area I would generally spend time looking at but I am finding it very interesting. I hope to finally finish that video by Monday.

[G Rec]

Another week starting here, and planning out my time. Last week I attended the topic group on Monday, and also attended a group/workshop held outside of here that someone shared with me.

I had planned to finish the UCLA Workshop on Mindfulness Strategies for Problem Gamblers, but I did not fit it in, that is on the to do list for the coming week along with a Topic group tonight on Dealing with Guilt and Shame, and then I will attend one more TBD group durign the week.

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Hi Wally,

Well done on getting through the weekend.

I think the problem of not knowing how to fill free time, and being bored is very common for us compuslive gamblers when we stop, and this is then magnified during covid/lockdowns.

There is a good tool linked over in Recovery Tools that has some ideas/suggestions for finding new hoppies, you can select a filter for only activities you can do at home.

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Hi wally2021,

Glad to hear the urge isn’t too bad. Really hoping you can hold in there for the day.

Have you tried any Zoom GA meetings? If you are feeling an urge, you may find them useful to help not act on it, you don’t necessarily even have to speak, just listening to others share may be helpful.

[G Rec]

Salut Kaifu1990, Bienvenue sur le forum et bravo pour demander de l'aide, comme wally2021 l'a mentionné, sachez que vous n'êtes pas seul, tout le monde sur le forum peut probablement s'associer à ce que vous avez écrit. Je recommanderais d'essayer le groupe des nouveaux membres, Charles qui modifie le groupe peut vous fournir d'excellents conseils et astuces sur les étapes que vous pouvez suivre à partir d'ici, et je les ai trouvés très utiles. Ils sont le lundi et le jeudi.

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