After a couple of years after leaving, I estimate myself to be about 75 to 80% recovered from Mormonism.

I was a true believer for approx. 30 years. In 2009, I was teaching the youth, and later that year the High Priests, really pouring my heart into it. After a family crisis, the cog disonance finally caught up with me, and my family and I quit cold turkey in 2010.

I have reconciled with myself that this so-called "true" church is a bunch of crap, and feel that I am well on my way to recovery. However mormonism still occupies way more than it's rightful share of my thoughts.

Frankly, I don't know if I will ever completely get over being bamboozled by it all, and some degree of anger may always remain.

Anyone else care to share a self assessment, possibly including what degree you have recovered, along with the reason why?

Finally, does anyone who is fully committed ever completely "recover"?

I think it's fair to say that if you live in Utah, the Morgue will constantly be on your mind. It's like the opposite of out of side out of mind. The other day I was discussing taxes with a group of family members, and one of course mentioned that the LDS church does more with 10% than the United States does with 30%. It's daily occurances like that one that keep the Morgue on my mind, although I suppose I should only speak for myself.

What a load of absolute bull shit! The food stamp program alone has helped thousands of times more people far more than the Morg ever has! And, personally, I would say that NASA has done more to advance the cause of mankind than all religions put together ever did!

The government is certainly extraordinarily wasteful, but far from useless. What good they manage to get done, they get it done on an enormous scale! The Morg, on the other hand...

You have to understand that the family member was a TBM teenager. If you accept the figure that the Morgue has donated about $5 to charity per person per year for the last few decades, it's not even a contest. I wasn't going to waste my breath explaining this to someone who wouldn't even care.

I was TBM as you get and I do feel fully recovered--depending on your definition.

The way I look at it is like this:
Mormonism was a huge chunk of most of our lives. It is an inextricable part of our past, and as such will always have a place in our own personal matrix.

Healing doesn't mean you never think of it, it just means when it pops up, you have the appropriate reaction, like it makes you laugh at it, or be appalled by it. But it should also makes you laugh at yourself for having been caught up in it. We are human after all and anyone who thinks they can't be fooled is the biggest fool of all.

Sometimes remembering the lie that the church is makes us sad or angry for what we lost, which doesn't mean we aren't healed, it just means we have a brain and enough understanding of morality to feel regret. Sometimes our TBM past makes us cringe, and justifiably so, but the satisfaction of knowing that you were able to get out of a cult, that you embraced fact and reason, should trump all of those feelings.

Healing isn't about having no scars. Healing is about loving your scars as markers of growth and letting them propel your thoughts to new things.

Once I got robbed. Now I have an alarm system. Once I got duped. Now I have facts and reason. It's all in the progress.

We can't erase the past, but we can try to understand it and overcome it.

I feel like we also heal in layers. I will have a week or two where I really get caught up in the church and how angry I am at it for what it did and is doing to my parents. And then I won't think about it for a month. But each time I go through this, I feel like it's easier to face. I can't believe how far I have come since I found out in Jan of 2012! I can laugh at it more now. Still bitter and still have far to go, but I agree with the scar analogy. I wouldn't say I'm totally healed by any means, but the wound is scabbed over now! And it feels great. To actually feel happiness that TSCC said I would never feel outside of their grasp. So empowering!!!

I was BIC and bailed out when I was 19 and didn't serve the mission. I'm 57 now. I feel like I'm 100% out of the "church", but I still feel a little connection to the culture via family. I didn't suffer much of the anger issues that some folks do, but I can certainly understand them!

Everybodys mileage varies. So I can see how someone that was in a long time can struggle with recovery vs someone like me.

...it offers nothing that appeals to me.

I've been out of the Mormon cult for a generation now and my life as no-Mo is great! I drink socially, have sex w/ someone who is unmarried (I am too), listen to comedians joke about sexuality and use 'bad' words, and otherwise live as I think best.

All the fear, guilt and shame that cultic Mormonism caused me to experience during my formative and young adult years is gone. I don't think about 'God' or worry about Jesus coming back and being 'unworthy'. I've de-programmed myself 100% from Mo-ism. Consequently, the LDS Church and religion are irrelevant to me.

and only being out for a couple of years, there's probably a lot of stuff you're not yet aware of. I've been away from Mormonism for 33 years, and I still discover little bits of residual programming every now and then.

You could replace the entire income tax system with a flat rate of 10% on all personal income. The 30% includes other taxes and also finances social security etc. Government is a waste machine. But TSCC wastes its money on trying to increase revenue and dupe more people.

I see there was some political thread jacking now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2013 01:08PM by Raptor Jesus.

As much as can be.

My time and choices in Mormonism forever changed me. I will always have issues because of that. But I have a lot of tools to cope now - and Mormonism doesn't bother me most of the time.

I don't agree with the definition of recovery utilizing complete disassociation of emotions with Mormonism. I think you know you're pretty well recovered when Mormonism can bug you or piss you off - but your reaction doesn't get in the way of your life.

When Mormonism is like anything else annoying or infuriating that you don't fixate on.

So when do stop having periods of second-guessing yourself? I got out at the time of my divorce in 2010. Decided that only people and organizations that brought me joy would be part of my life. Haven't missed it.

Except...every now and then, I start to wonder if they were right and I'm wrong.

I think its important to second guess yourself! After all, that's why all of us are here! If you don't stop every now and then and examine what you believe and why, then how will you ever know whether what you believe is the truth?