u/JohnLockwood

Today I'm an atheist, but as a Catholic kid I learned about "Mortal Sins." Since my Catholicism is of course rusty, I thought I needed a refresher, so looking it up on the Interwebs, I found that a "mortal sin is one that 'destroys in us the charity without which eternal beatitude is impossible...'"

OK, on to the mortal sin that I've identified. Pope Whoever, please note. This is John the Atheist's Mortal sin: "Seeing a sincere post in this forum from a newcomer asking for help from AA, and downvoting it."

Discouraging a newcomer asking for help is a despicable, rotten thing to do, whether you agree with AA or not. Apologies all around, but that's the best I can do with respect to rule 1, "Be Civil."

Because the SMART Recovery site doesn't index their tools by category, I'm going to take the liberty of listing the SMART Tools that are marked "Build and Maintain Motivation" below. I'm hoping this can serve as a resource for those who ask "I know I have a problem but I'm not ready to stop drinking yet" type questions (which come up rather often).

• Cost Benefit Analysis
• Create a Change Plan
• Define Your Values
• Explore New Pursuits and Passions

For those of you who spend a fair amount of time here ("or perhaps are a bit addicted to it", he said, raising his hand timidly), how do you see it as part of your recovery? The reason I ask is that I've been thinking of starting a zoom meeting, which will take maybe an hour or two of per week of my time and $160.00 or so per year of my money (at least until the 7th tradition takes root in the meeting). The monetary investment is less a concern than the time.

Meantime, part of what keeps me stuck on Reddit is this idea that I'm being of service here. I spend far more than two hours per week here, but it's optional -- not something I'm committed to. I see social media as a bit of an addiction in its own right, so I'm in the weird position of justifying one addiction by saying I'm working a twelfth step in another program.

Another thing I'm trying to get clear on is how useful this is to anyone. In a couple of years of haunting these rooms, I've gotten a lot of people mad (not useful to me) and gained a grand total of one sponsee out of the deal (useful to him AND me). Not that I want a huge stable of acolytes, mind you. One or two at a time is enough; I'm not on the speaker circuit here. But I often find myself wondering how many of the sober curious "Am I an alcoholic" types actually benefit from what we do here -- as opposed to what one might accomplish by something like a beginners' meeting (at the intersection of new enough to count as service for me / motivated enough to take action for themselves).

Has any of this occurred to anyone else? Thoughts?

Every once in a while I try to address a topic that comes up a lot over here into a post I can re-use for newcomers.

The latest such post deals with the question of Am I an Alcoholic?.

Perhaps someone will find it useful.