The LDS church has diminished in its influence in my life significantly. Much of this has been due to natural drift from old friends and making new friends. This isn't an effort on my part, just something that occurs over time. My old ward friends are now a friendly exchange in the local grocery store or a smile in the park. I realized that I enjoy Facebook less and less and enjoy Instagram more and more, because I want to see a family smiling, not a political post or another sermon / scripture on how amazing God is. I stopped listening to Mormon-themed podcasts naturally, and started getting back into my love of history while out running.
Yes, I'm running again. I injured myself in my last marathon about 10 years ago and went from 41 miles a week to zero for six months. I lost my momentum and never got back into it, despite it being one of my favorite past times. So, I'm laced up again, and while I have no plans on marathon-running again, I am back running 3 miles a day and loving every second. I've taken back off the weight I gained during my post-marathon woes and I'm healthy as a ham.
I've really worked to include more "me" time during the week. When I got divorced I filled my time with volunteerism just to get myself out of the house and stop thinking about all of my problems. Now that I've worked through many of my issues, I'm starting to scale back my volunteerism to a reasonable amount (two days a week rather than five). I still volunteer at the hospital as a musician and I still haul books for the library. But on Tuesdays I watch a Science Fiction movie with a few of my friends and on Thursdays it is my quiet night. I go for a walk, read, play a few video games, and get an early night's rest. I have my children from Friday morning to Sunday night, so that takes up the rest of my time.
I've made some major leaps and bounds in my personal life recently. I paid off all of my post-marriage debts so I can finally start saving up for a down payment on a new house. The pain of my experience with a heavily abusive father is wearing off. The pain of my divorce is gone and feels like a previous life. I sometimes comment on the ex-Mormon sub-Reddit, but I even unsubscribed from that recently.
New Order Mormon has been a crutch throughout my transition. From the moment I was a doe-eyed believer who had a rug swept out from under himself to a bitter recently divorced, depressed, ex-Mormon. You all have been there for me, and I cannot thank you enough for all of your help in my life change. I'm still going to be around, although to be honest, Mormonism doesn't really interest me much anymore so I may not be much in posts about the church.
I would love to get more involved in the support forum and helping people. I want to return much of the same support that was given to me by this wonderful community of people.
