Subforum may be inactive but *there is gold here*
 

I came to this forum earlier today by way of a Google search for some clarifications about AVRT.
TBH, the fact that this initialism is trademarked had made me a little sceptical. But it's an incredibly valuable framework to get one's head around.
While it's very new to me, I can see that it is simultaneously very simple but, perhaps just to begin with, not necessarily simple.
I'm writing this post for anybody who stumbles across this forum and is, perhaps as I was, a bit disappointed to see that it is now very quiet.
I wonder whether this is partly because so very much of great value has been said here already. Just go through previous posts and you will find real gems.
I have been reading all the posts of Algorithm and Terminally Unique. The pair provide invaluable commentary to the basics of AVRT, it seems to me. Spending time looking at their posts has been amazing for me.
I guess I could spend some time explaining my views on the matter and my experience with AA — and how, actually, the nearest I could identify to there being a "higher power" actually fits fairly well within the AVRT paradigm, although is certainly is not an essential part of it. Maybe if things get less quiet here in time I may do so.
Best of luck with your search for solutions. I think I've found mine as an amalgam of many of the posts here.

Welcome to SR Vogel

I use AVRT to keep me sober. Large social media platforms have endless recovery groups now. Causing a decline in SR use overall and the secular forum mostly unused.

There is an active Newcomer's forum if you would like more support for your recovery, Link below
https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...mers-recovery/

AA discussion are off limits here in Secular, sorry.

vogelkop,
the main reason it’s quiet here is because of AVRT/ Rational Recovery paradigm itself. it doesn’t include ongoing support as such. not part of the approach.
good to hear you’re finding much of golden value here!

Hi vogelcop,

I’m so glad you posted. The AVRT activity has been practically nonexistent the last couple of years. It’s a shame because it’s a lifesaver for many who encounter the technique after no success with other methods.

When people inquire about AVRT, I suggest two sources. 1) the book “Rational Recovery: The New Cure for Substance Addiction” and 2) the six-part AVRT thread on this site. This how I became abstinent over 6 years ago. I tried AA and SMART for years, but neither “stuck” and I eventually went back to drinking. This site saved my life by pointing me to Rational Recovery and AVRT.

I too was skeptical because it was a commercial enterprise, but in the end I only spent money on the book (about $7). I was desperate after the umpteenth Monday hangover and said “what the heck”, read the book, read the six-part thread, twice. Then I made my Big Plan. Six years later, I’m happily abstinent with no fear of relapse.

Now that the Rational Recovery site is down, I am worried that AVRT will be lost or bastardized. This site has some incredible info on AVRT and I hope the AVRT veterans will come back and make these forums what they once were. But I’m just grateful that this site was there for me. I hope it’s around a long time to help many more.

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Welcome vogelkop ~

I check in here occasionally as a 'drive-by' to see if there's any new Posts. I get what you're saying; it can be pretty quiet here. We're just off being all Sober & stuff. :evil:

~3 Months in - starting a Decade ago on my own - one of the generous Sober Minds here steered me toward this SR section. It really resonated with me, and provided me invaluable direction. Despite downing a 1.75 Liter 'Handle' of Vodka every 2 Days. I always wanted to carry my own Sobriety internally, and not rely on external influences or variables. So, while at the Dog Park, or in a Store line, I could get a boost of needed insight here while skipping some of truly-bizarre perspectives of some 'Experts'. The flipside also resonated: I could retrieve lil wisdom nuggets, and process those while going about my Sobriety. I think Sobriety is 'an inside job', Relentess, non-conditional committment is a linchpin for new habits and attitudes sticking permanently.

As I near 10 Years in, nuffin' has changed at 70 Years old.. I'm what I call 'Effortlessly Sober' after 42 Years of increasingly-hard drinking..I found the right approach for me. The only Person I'm concerned about getting Sober. Strip out all the peer pressure and noise - a huge part of this process to succeed - and refine incrementally practicing what works for YOU! It did for this Introvert.

'Intelligence is not what you know. It's knowing what you don't know'

~ All The Best ~
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It does get quiet here. I spent a lot of time here while it was a fairly active section of the forum. AVRT resonated with me before I ever heard of it. It's simple, to the point, and not dressed up with mostly pleasant philosophy that seems irrelevant to recovery. And that "addictive voice" part caught my attention. Someone finally put a name to that thing in my head. Not sure why it needed a name, but it sure made me realize the author understood what he was talking about.

Simple, but not simple? I know what you mean, although I usually express it as simple but not easy. And as MesaMan points out, recovery is an "inside job." We can get help and information from others, but recovery is something we do inside ourselves whatever system we use. But having said that, I often feel like sobriety was not something I could do alone. I needed help from outside, but of course that means, I had to choose the right outside environment.

Looking back at my years of sobriety and realizing how much "inside" was the bulk of the process, I sometimes think I really didn't need anything outside. But of course, I didn't know then what I know now, so that's kind of one of those armchair remarks that are based on hindsight.

I'm super glad to see this thread isn't dead. I have used AVRT every time to quit and I'm still trying to use it despite the 'irreversability' of the Big Plan seeming to be reversible. I have to get my head back in the game and believe in myself again. So done with this poison. This is not living!

GrooveChick
I thought I was going to use AVRT to quit , but once I started separating from the AV , I realized I was 'using it' to not start drinking again. It's a mind game , but the good news is You get to make the rules :)
Use AVRT to get quat ( soo quit it needs a new tense ;) )
Rootin for ya !

Ooh, I like that advice dwtbd! Thank you :) I think it's been so long since I had a really good long non-drinking stretch that it feels so impossible now. I'm always looking for the next big inspiration to jerk me back into action and just do it. I used to just work so hard to get a day 1 and then I'd hold onto it and keep quit for awhile. Now I get lots of day 1's but almost no day 2's. Unbelievable, when I know how amazing it is to wake up sober and how miserable it is when I don't.

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Hiya GC ~

Early on, I found it challenging to change my drinking behavior 100% of time. AVRT or no AVRT. I'd have these lil 'blackout moments', and would find myself in a Liquor Store in the morning to stock up on 'something' on the way to the Dog Park. Drinking was nice and stealth there in Early Retirement. These lil Vodka buying lapses felt like I'd teleported myself to another place for a short while.

As corny as it sounds, mebbe something like a Rubber Band on your Wrist that you could snap to focus back on not drinking. Or, a Bracelet with a small engraving/message on it. A Dashboard reminder of some type in your Car. A note on the Fridge. Just throwing out some random ideas.

Once I didn't give in to to these odd, 'Out Of Body' impulses, adherence to AVRT could again straighten out my mental clarity, and I'd remain sober. Rinse and repeat until it became what I call my 'New Normal'. For me, it took a few Months to achieve this sober form of 'Muscle Memory' where I automatically did the right thing. Sober Autopilot, so to speak...

~ All The Best ~

The Big Plan is almost presented as just "do the Big Plan, and your done," at least in various places in the book. And it does work if you do it, but there in lies the problem. We still have to deal with OK, but how? The book spends many pages sort of explaining it, and that is helpful. But most of carrying out the plan is something we must find in ourselves. This requires another plan with the directions on how to do the Big Plan.
The Big Plan is fundamentally sound. It's the essence of recovery in its simplest terms, but let's face it, getting started is seldom that easy for anyone.