Originally Posted by
soberlicious 
I think people who have just quit want to be reassured that "it gets better" and I want to reassure them that it does because what's the point of quitting if not to reclaim your life and live it the way you want to not the way IT wants to?
I can certainly understand this sentiment, along with the distinction between living the way you want to versus the way IT wants to. I think the latter is the most important, since the Beast fears for its own death by deprivation far more than the literal death and suffering of its host, and it will drive one to ruin without a second thought.
However, the "it gets better" part could almost border on bargain thinking, as in a bargain that promises a payoff. If the imagined promised payoff does not materialize, then the wily Beast has an opening to argue for a return to using.
"Illusion 12" in
Rational Recovery: TNC, Pages 81-83.
Originally Posted by
soberlicious I guess I would probably point out that success is not defined by absence of AV, but absence of fear in the face of AV. The struggle isn't created by the AV, the struggle is created by engaging with it...and that activity does lessen with separation. Am I misleading others by suggesting that?
No, I don't believe that you are misleading.