First, let me start by saying my methodology may not work for some. In fact, some people might think that the way I'm doing this is straight up incorrect. But it's worked for me for over 3 years, and I'm happy to say that I've had zero major relapses in that time.
I lost about $30,000 (USD) from 2021-2023. I'm not going to get into the specifics of my life, but let's just say I have dependents who count on my earnings, and while my gambling losses never got too out of control, it was still affecting those who needed me. The lost money was a major issue, but not as important as how the gambling was affecting my life. I was gambling on apps constantly -- it was taking away so much of my focus and energy. I wasn't sleeping because of how stressed and/or excited I was about gambling. It was just a terrible time.
I tried therapy to get to the root of the cause, and that was very helpful (I am a major proponent of therapy) but it didn't "cure" the issue. I needed to take action. Here is what I did.
I had access to about 6 gambling apps. I put a $1 deposit limit on all of them. Whenever I get an urge to gamble, I have to change the deposit limits which requires time to take effect. When it says "do you want to change your limits? this update will happen in X days" I just press cancel because I don't want to wait that long.
I created accounts on all the other apps where I didn't have an account and immediately banned myself. This was brilliant. Now anytime I get frustrated that I can't gamble on any of those original 6 apps and try to find a new one, I see that they're all connected and I either have a deposit limit or I'm self-excluded.
I banned myself from a local casino. It's about an hour away so it's not a daily issue for me, but I went in one day and banned myself from it. Completely cuts out any urge to travel there.
I told my family members about what happened. This was maybe the hardest thing I had to do, but it needed to be done. The secrecy was giving me so much anxiety. It didn't feel good to get it off my chest, but I knew it was necessary to rebuild. This also held me accountable -- I knew that I would be openly letting other people down if I went back to gambling, whereas it would've been easier to relapse if it was just "my problem."
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORANT ONE - I got a second job. I made back every dollar of the $30k I lost and put it towards my family. I have worked so hard to get that money back. Did I lose out on that time with friends and family? For sure. But I'm now back to "even" with the money I lost through my own hard work. Being even feels so fucking good.
The farther away I got from my gambling hole, the more I appreciated the money I have. As many of you already know, the value of your money decreases exponentially when you're gambling. A $50 concert ticket seems like a big expense, but $50 per spin in roulette is peanuts. I can now see so clearly how much I value my money in different ways.
Good luck to all of you. If I can do it, any of you can do it.