i just checked in quickly to say avrt (the method! lol) is working better for me than i could ever have hoped possible... it's seriously as close to effortless as i am
willing to let it be, it's only if i let my attention wander and start debating/arguing with the 'av' that i have a tough time, and as soon as i realise what i'm doing and stop, it becomes a lot simpler.
to be fair i have had some intense physical cravings and beastly whinings now and then about 'deserving' a drink etc but 1. they're easy to recognise now and 2. not one single emotion or physical state i have had since i made my 'big plan' (after a lot of thought and doubts) has been anything
like as gut-wrenchingly bad as most of my hangovers.
the main way my beast got to me in my previous efforts to quit (or just cut back) was to flood me with emotions about 'deserving' the stuff after a hard day at work or even 'needing it' to unwind and be social, and recognising those for what they are is the cornerstone of my recovery and sobriety.
i think the 'all or nothing' absolutism of avrt works because it replaces the need to assess each seperate urge (internal image, emotion, or external trigger etc) to drink with a simple rule - 'i will never drink again, and i will never change my mind'.
if you consider the statement from the 1st book that the addictive voice exists to channel every event in your life into 'a causal pathway towards drinking', it seems a bit more reasonable that since your 'beast' is a one-track-mind merchant with only one answer to everything, you have to be similarly dogmatic and inflexible in cutting it down before it can even get started on the why's and wherefore's of drinking.
heaven knows i went years thinking i could examine each craving on a case-by-case basis and 99 times out of every hundred i'd lose, the 'beast' of my addicted mind/body knew my specific triggers and weak points only too well and unlike me it didn't give up until it got that one thing that it wanted.
but i can't really do this method justice, other people on here esp. avrt (the member) write better about this stuff than me and thank you for that twist on 'vertigo' - had that a few times and i will be using the new phrasing for sure!! i'll definitely be getting the new book when i get home.
anyway, score one person's life changed for the better here, thank you jack t - he may not be the cuddliest teddy bear on the planet but i could kiss the guy for what his book has done for me.
i never thought i'd be where i am today, or that i could feel so free and secure in sobriety.
debs x