makeabigplan,
I'm in the odd position of being someone who did AVRT without realizing it at the time. I suspect this is why Jack Trimpey refers to AVRT as essentially a distillation (pardon the pun) of the technique real people really use to quit an addiction.
Because of this, though, I spent little time in debate with my AV. Oh, it was there all right, but I guess I kind of expected that and didn't pay it a whole lot of heed. Ha, I remember one time about 6 months after I quit, when I had an emotional crisis over a personal loss and was sobbing in the corner of my room, nearly catatonic with pain. There was a bottle of tequila in the house for a party we were giving the next day. Old AV kept poking me, reminding me of the bottle and the numbness it would provide. I ignored it. "Not an option" was all I thought.
I say this because I think that while it's valuable to recognize the AV and combat its sneaky ways, the real beauty is in the decision. Very few things in life are black and white, nor should they be, but at least for me the the decision was and always has been paramount.
I guess the question for me is: what is holding you back, REALLY holding you back from making the decision?