TL;DR- A quick word on Alpha Widows, her "past Alphas" and the importance of walking away.

"The Silhouette Constant"

Over shorter periods of time, the woman will have a clearer picture of both good and bad traits from which to judge the man on.

But as time progresses, her memory of the actual man fades and her over-all perception becomes no more than a lump sum of how she last felt about him i.e. a "silhouette" of the impact his frame left on her.

If she felt he leaned towards beta, his silhouette will become Beta. If she felt he leaned towards Alpha, his silhouette will become Alpha.

The actual Alpha may have had beta traits or the actual Beta may have had alpha traits, but over time, they have been forgotten in lieu of their absence.

This explains several commonalities.

1) It explains why Alphas use "walking away" and dread game as a buff towards their perception.

By suddenly disappearing from her perception, she builds a "silhouette" around the Alpha-esque characteristics he exuded and begins to forget any of bad/beta characteristics he may have portrayed (so long as the summation of her perception of him was "Alpha" at his time of departure).

This is why "soft nexting" or "hard nexting" are such common practices in askTRP and TRP; They're using this notion as a passive gaming tactic.

2) It explains why Alpha Widows exist.

When the Alpha disappears inexplicably with only the silhouette of his frame left in his wake, the woman will judge all future potential mates, NOT against the Alpha himself but against how she REMEMBERS him i.e. against his silhouette. Meaning that should said Alpha return, if the new Alpha's SMV is lower that the old Alpha's silhouette, she's likely to return to the arms of her old Alpha.

When it comes down to a sure thing v. risk, women will usually aire on the side of risk aversion.

3) It explains why old flames are never impressed.

The Silhouette Constant works both ways.

Should a man leave as a beta, his silhouette will be perceived as a beta and all previously-demonstrated Alpha traits lost to her.

Any Alpha traits displayed by the man after this point will be seen as a mere facade to the "truth that lay beneath". This makes reconnecting with old flings is ill-advisable, especially those that were left with "beta silhouettes".

In short, the passage of time is only beneficial if her last perception of you was Alpha. Otherwise, due to the frailty of memory and the ease of compartmentalization, as time passes, those perceptions of beta become hard-grained and nigh-impossible to shatter.

Lesson Learned- All in all, if she perceives an Enlightened Alpha as beta, being enlightened, he should pursue other women. A rekindling without previously established Alpha identification is fighting an unnecessarily difficult uphill climb, all while other men watch from up high, happily riding a gondola to it's summit.