Originally Posted by
Terminally Unique I'm not going to advise you on vacations, but the key to AVRT is the separation of your true self from the Beast. If you have made a decision to never drink again and never change your mind, then you no longer drink. Furthermore, since the desire for alcohol is not you, but the Beast, you don't even want to drink. In the example you gave, your Beast would be put in a place that IT associates with non-stop drinking. It might take a bit of practice to grasp this separation and put it into practice, which is what the exercises in the book are for, but once you do, there are no more battles.
Thanks TU for your response. It makes sense. I need to get to the point where I do not "want" to drink. I have already reached this stage with eating meat, so why can't I do it with alcohol? I quit eating meat last year after I could not longer justify the treatment of animals on factory farms. The repulsion and anger built up over time and I can honestly say that I will never eat meat again. I can even go to any fast food or fancy restaurant and have no desire to order a meat dish and this is after eating meat at almost every meal for 44 years.
I need to apply the same way of thinking to drinking now which should be easier since I have only been drinking regularly for 30 years. Are the exercises you mentioned only in "The New Cure...?" If so, I need to buy that book.