The Times They Have a-Changed

When I rediscovered blogging in 2005, it was partially to create an outlet of creativity, vent my frustrations, and deal with my exit from the Mormon church.  As long as I've been blogging, I've had a blog link list linking to other sites of similar interest, or simply of interest to me.  Officially, I had two blogs, one for personal blogging, and one specifically concerning Mormonism.

By April of 2006, I had started to move on.  I guess it helps that I had been a convert to the LDS church, and could easily shed myself of that way of life.  It also helped that I had discovered some of the truths others were realizing many years before, as a teacher in the church.  But whatever the reasoning, I was done with maintaining two blogs.  I moved on.

At the same time, I was trying to discover myself (which has never ended).  So I started a new eric on Google's Blogger.  Eventually, I moved to my own domain and better software.

Through it all, I've always maintained a link list for other sites.

I've never been very good at editing it.  Blogs come and go.  Blogs go dormant, people and their motives change.  People move on.

Today, I did performed some major edits of my link list.  It was long overdue.

In editing the list, I tested each site to make sure they were still around, or at least, still being used.  Anything with posts older than December of last year were removed.  Anything that was now gone from the Internet was deleted.  Others that had changed names were modified.  But the one thing I noticed a lot of were the people who had moved on from their "recovery from Mormonism" phase.

That link list used to be twice as long, and almost entirely blogs of people leaving the LDS church.  Now, of the people linked on my list, most of them are still exmormons.  But at least half of them have moved on.  Some so completely that they did as I did in 2006 - they abandoned their old blogs in favor of blogs indicative of their new direction in life.

It amazed me how many people had moved on.  It amazes me how many still have yet to move on.  But even more, it amazes me that I was able to move on so much quicker than they did.

I guess it was inevitable.  The times, they have a-changed.  You can only be bitter for so long.  Some of us are able to hold onto that for years - even most of a lifetime.  Others can shed that negativity so quick they don't know what to be negative about anymore.  I think I was a part of this group.  I moved on.

Only now, some of my compatriots are following my lead.  I'm glad to see them focus on life, parenthood, and finding direction or finding themselves.  Being a former Mormon is only a part of their life now, not the overwhelming majority of it.

I applaud those of you who made the change, and to those still dealing with it, I hope you find closure or common ground to move forward in life.

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