I have romanced the idea too. Cognitively it helps to realize you are not your thoughts and don't need to act on them. This is what the AVRT technique is doing with identifying an AV. For me, I needed someone to talk things through early on. A sponsor helped be this ear in the early months.
I needed to identify before the relapse vs. after. For me 3D support helped with this but that was just me. As I built great sober muscles I was able to deal with bigger things regarding my own recovery. For the first few months though it was about surviving without a drink or drug. This meant an awful diet with tons of sugar, chain smoking in the first few weeks (quit a month in), AA meetings, tons of posts here, reading books, being honest with those around me o create accountability. About three of four months my needs changed and so did my program.