Thanks TU for a great reply as always.
I've got it now. I have experienced ACE a few times but it's always been short-lived. I'm struggling to not count time at this stage though as I want to be over that period where I feel my body has reset itself from alcohol.
Regarding the feeling of irritation, etc I should also point out that I am doing a fairly intensive eating programme to, which would make people irritable in their own right.
AVRT is so powerful. My Big Plan has several facets that incorporate food, caffeine, exercise and some personal goals. Things I have struggled with before due to lack of will are now truly effortless. Not wanting to count time or anything but I have already way exceeded what I would have achieved through willpower alone through AVRT.
Trying to apply a Big Plan to other things can be tricky. It's easy to not do something so, I will never drink caffeine again, and I will never change my mind is black and white.
To do something is a little more difficult. For example, I will exercise three times a week, and I will never change my mind. What if I'm in a wheelchair for a month? Okay, there has to be some leeway but I if you made it, I will exercise three times a week when I am fit to do so, and I will never change my mind—despite being less pithy—creates a grey area as if you have a slight cold for example, you could argue either way that you should do the exercise.
Then something like food is tricky because there are so many different parameters. I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to nutrition and read about food addiction way before I ever read EasyWay or RR. I have read Taming the Feast Beast article on the RR site and to me it doesn't fit right because it isn't based on what I believe is the optimal diet for a human being (I prefer the food addiction materials published by Joel Fuhrman MD). So my Big Plan is to eat a certain % of what I class as acceptable foods leaving a junk margin (if you've read Allen Carr's Easyweight you'll be familiar with this) for when there is no other food available, you're eating at a friend's, etc.
As an aside, when I first read EasyWay I was over the moon and said to myself, you'll have drink again. Then I told myself, unless someone close to you dies, there's no way you could not drink then. I gladly accepted that. Now I know it for what it is. I am actually going to a funeral this week and experienced the ACE last night because I had no interest to drink. I could only think I will disrespect my memories and my need to mourn my relative by inebriating myself. It's funny how cunning and desperate the Beast is though. It then said, that's fine, but what if a close family member contracts a disease that most would consider worse than death? What then? The Beast has played into my worst fear (that and dying in a plane crash). Still no, I told it, and it went away.
Finally, this AVRT is powerful. Please, admins/mods, do not close or delete this thread. It's changed my life for the better; I'm sure I'm not the only one.