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#32602
theone12221
Участник

Hey man, great to hear you’re still clean and feeling better over time. I know those feelings of guilt/regret will still be raw right now but they will fade over time. Rather use those feelings as a reminder why you should never gamble again!

Your mindset also seems solid. Just remember your last relapse and how easy it is to convince ourselves we’re better or that we can „just have a bit of fun“. For people like us it’s all or nothing there’s no such thing as „for fun“. We just need to accept we cannot gamble, EVER.

Now Charles gives good advice. Proactive action is key to your recovery. There have been many times I’ve had a gambling thought pop up and I resisted it, even many times, but eventually gave in due to leaving those gambling doors open. My strategy now is that if I ever get ANY urge to do a form of gambling, and I know a way to access that form of gambling, I will proactively self-exclude from that casino/website. It’s a great feeling taking some time now to insure your future. It helps with my recovery and makes my mind at ease. I’ve done this with over 30 websites already (create account –> self-exclude for max duration). Although I’m confident in my self-control, I’m not taking any chances. I’m literally self-excluded from 99% of all forms of online/offline gambling available in my city but if I ever get an urge to try something else that I normally don’t do (eg. Horse racing, lottery, slots, share trading) I’ll take active steps to ban myself first. If I go to a new city for a trip/holiday I’ll try to stay away from any casinos. If I ever get urges I’ll just proactively self-exclude. Despite never having any urges for certain forms of gambling in the past, who knows what the future will hold and we all know the addiction will do whatever it can to get us back in the game.