This past weekend I decided to quietly leave the ex-Mormon Facebook group that I had joined a couple of months ago.
Getting rid of negativity in one's life is essential for peace and
happiness, and this Facebook group has been a huge source of negativity in my
life for the 6 or 7 weeks I was in it. Some people need a group like this for support, for comfort, and
for a feeling of being with others who have similar experiences. But this group was bringing me down instead of making me feel better. Lots of the things people post are sarcastic, but others share stories that are full of pain and anger, and it's very hard for me to read things like that over and over again. I've given some encouraging words here and there, but ultimately there's nothing I can do, and I'm unhappy in the meantime. I even found myself often having negative feelings toward Mc because he is a member of the Church; I didn't feel that way before I joined the Facebook group, and I didn't like that I was feeling this way toward him.
The bottom line is: I left the Church for my own reasons, and that's enough for me. All of these blog posts have been my issues with the Church, not others' issues. I've found myself checking Facebook multiple times a day, going to this Facebook group to see what people were saying, to learn things that others knew about the Church that I've never heard before. But now I've found that I am mentally worn out from finding out more and more information from the Facebook group. The more I find out about the negative things of the Church, the more unhappy and discontent I am with... well, with life in general.
I never intended the Facebook group to be a part of my healing process, and for the month-and-a-half that I was in it, it never became part of my healing process. It was nice seeing almost 2,000 other people who believe what I do now, but I don't have a connection with most of them (I've only actually met 3 or 4 people who are also in the group) and I was being saturated with information that wasn't helping me to leave the Church behind me, which is ultimately what I want to do.
Like I said: some people need a group like this for support, and to each their own; I truly hope they're getting what they need from it. Right now I want to go to my Facebook homepage and not see 20+ notifications every time I login from a group which is mostly negative and which will constantly remind me of the unhappiness I experienced while in the Church. I want to keep my Facebook account for staying in touch with family and friends, and that's what it is once again.
Already I feel so much negativity gone from my mind and out of my life, and I needed it; I feel much better. Almost like magic, the negative feelings I was feeling toward Mc are gone, and I'm so very happy about that.
