Hello Everyone! I have been behind the scenes reading for awhile and am stepping out today. It's time for me to be done with gambling. Past time, overdue. I am so impressed by the posts I've read the past few weeks. I almost feel like I "know" some of you, and I think that is a good way to start! For the first time, I actually knew people were feeling what I was feeling and going through what I've been going through. The posts actually helped me to examine everything at a deeper level. Knowing I was going down a bad road has been in existence for awhile. But getting to a point of being scared and foolish all had to accumulate at once. "Playing with fire" I call it, and doing it while unemployed has made it all the worse. My last day gambling was last Tuesday the 23rd. I had a chance to go today again - all month Tuesday has been double free play day - and it's made it much harder to finish out 2014 because of the increased temptation. But I'm glad to say that I didn't go today, the final double Tuesday, and have been planning to be done at the end of the month come H**L or highwater. By not going today I already have a week, but I'm probably not going to count any time quit, because I just don't want to be there anymore, and more importantly I know I can't if I ever want my life to improve and get back to some normalcy. I will be digging out of debt too, and am finally scheduled to go back to work on January 6th after 4 longs months of no income. No income can make you crazy and desperate which were my triggers. I believe once I am actually earning money again, my time represented in my paychecks won't be able to be pried from my hands. Oddly enough borrowed money was easier to spend! I feel that it will be important for me to contribute to this group as I move ahead because you've already been so helpful to me. 2015 - bring it on! I'm ready for a fresh start with a fresh mind.