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I've been sober over seven years now and rarely here a peep out of my addict voice. Once in a while I'll get a craving to drink, which immediately makes me feel sick, so I never give in to it. I don't think it will ever go away completely, but it's not very often I hear it, and it is easily dismissed.

MesaMan

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My own experience is that of shockozulu, and least.

It doesn't matter to me if the AV were ever to disappear, because I don't drink anymore. That's the point of RR & internalizing the permanent 'don't ever Drink' decision. Permanent means permanent. I added this non-negotiable decision to other things I just don't do. Effortlessly. Like, steal Money from a Pal's Wallet if he's out of the Room. Or, hit on another Man's Wife. Or, abuse Animals.

I've read here several hundred times over the Years about the Quicksand of picking up again, and where things go from there. Decidedly downhill. So, don't ever pick up again. It is that simple. You can't lust after that which you don't want anymore.
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Algorithm

The characterization of addiction as a game of 'whack-a-mole' is common in the general recovery community, and is probably where you picked up that particular expression, but it is simply a variation of the 'addictive personality', hence the notion of it 'manifesting' in other ways.

AVRT does not rely on a psychological model of addiction, however, and the idea of having an addictive personality which 'manifests' in other ways does not make sense in the context of AVRT, except as the Addictive Voice, suggesting the possibility of drinking or using some more due to an intractable psychological vulnerability.

I trust you know by now that your Beast would very much like to 'manifest' again and have another personal party, by first re-framing the swallowing of some more alcohol as merely a symptom of some other deep-seated psychological malady. This would leave the problem unresolved, and the door to further indulgence wide open.

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! A symptom! Yeesss! Hope yet springs eternal!" sez the Beast.

This is not accurate, zenchaser. AVRT makes no distinction between alcohol and other mood altering, non-prescribed, hedonic drugs. Alcohol and other drugs (AOD) are one category of substances. The key word in AOD is 'other', and alcohol is simply another drug, but a drug nonetheless.

The Beast may have a preference, but IT ultimately doesn't care too much which particular hedonic drug is ingested, as long as the drug gets you buzzed and rockets you to the Oh-zone. The idea of a 'DOC' versus a 'drug of non-choice' (meaning choice #2 on down) is just AV -- the Beast trying to get you to cut a deal with IT.

See item #2 in this list of common 'Beast Holes':

Beast Holes |

This is all Addictive Voice. Lack of 'access' is not the problem, since the Beast is rather determined in seeking out a source of the supply, as the failure of both prohibition and the war on drugs at stopping consumption has shown. Hiding from the supply, or limiting easy access to the supply, is not a reliable way to ensure abstinence.

The absence of AV is not good, the presence of AV is not bad, and the fear of AV is AV itself. One of the most vexing forms of the Addictive Voice is the idea that it is somehow good if we do not have the desire to drink, or the AV activity that stems from that desire.

The Beast cunningly boasts of its own silence, in order to conceal its immutable nature, and in order to conceal its imperative, buzz-seeking agenda. Although neuroplasticity is a real phenomenon, the unwholesome focus on 'brain juices' is often a path to the bottle for 'Dr. Beast', which can readily argue that you are a quart low on serotonin, and that you should drink some more to compensate.

In AVRT, we simply assume that Beast never really dies, and welcome the AV as a sign that nothing is wrong. We recognize the AV as the bark of the Beast, and understand from the structural model that the only thing the Beast can do is to bark AV. If we recognize the Beast's bark, we are good and safe.

Remember that the AV, and not the Beast, is the cause of your addiction. The Beast is a dependent, impotent parasite which cannot actually engage the peripherals (hands, feet, mouth) to swallow that alcohol. It must appeal to its host (YOU!) in order to get fed.

AV ≠ Beast

Bark → Dog = AV → Beast

JeffreyAK

I don't hear that voice anymore either, certainly not with any power. The last time I heard it faintly was a year ago, when I was out of town on a long business trip - a group of us went to lunch, they ordered beers, and a little voice pulled the same old tricks for a couple seconds, "You can do it, you need to fit in and not draw attention to yourself, you deserve it", usual old crapola. It was really easy to just ignore, since I truly have no desire anymore to drink alcohol, and wouldn't trade sobriety for moderate drinking even if I was capable of maintaining it.

Wholesome

Yeah, my AV has totally been trying to get me to do drugs, silly thing! Sending me images of me in a night club getting down to some house music haha. I'm too old for that nonsense, I've got bad knees now that hurt when it's raining. Not going to happen. Nice try though. IT's also been encouraging me to eat some edibles to help me with my sore knees. I'm on to IT's tricks.

It is vexing when IT's absent because the feeling of triumph is false.

The fear of the AV being the AV itself is what I've got to get a handle on. It's all in my mind.

IT always makes me think of Gollum from Lord of the Rings who wants to be good but part of him always seeks the precious. He hates it but loves it and always fears it.