I'm back on Facebook, and I may have blocked you...

Back in June a Hungarian friend and yoga teacher of mine moved back to Europe. I was just getting to know her and didn't want to lose the connection we'd made. At that time my partner in life was considering a job in the same part of Europe, so there was a chance we were going to be neighbors! We changed our mind about moving across the Atlantic, but Facebook remains as a good way to stay connected across the world.

In June I indeed made my return to Facebook after 5+ years hiatus. It's kind of funny to think back about when I left FB years ago. It was at the suggestion of the Stake President back in Utah. I remember that he was saying marriages were being broken up by people in the stake rekindling old romances with FB friends. I was afraid I could be tempted, so I left and didn't look back. Haha, kind of funny now that it was Mormonism that got me off the addicting social media site.

This time around I decided that being on Facebook was going to be different for me. Instead of being friends with every person I've ever known, I would just be connected to the people I know and connect with right now. Most of the people I've friended are people I see in real life. It's been awesome to connect mostly with my yoga and climbing friends. It's really nice to just throw up a post saying, "Hey, I'm going climbing (or to a yoga workshop), anyone wanna come with me?" It's also been great to connect with other friends/family of mine who have been or are going through similar experiences as me...like you know, they've left Mormonism too. I now know over a dozen people who've left since I left. It's amazing and wonderful to find my own personal community growing.

So yeah, I'm on Facebook and I've been very particular about the people I'm friends with on there.

Just so you know, if I'm not friends with you on FB, it doesn't mean I don't like you or don't care about you. It just means either I'm connecting with you in another way (phone calls, email) and/or that connecting with you on FB would not be good for me.

When I made my new FB account in June, I actually went ahead and blocked invitations from people in my family. Why? Because the one thing I didn't want when I got back on FB was to have to dredge up all the physical sickness I feel when family of mine proudly parades their Mormon banner over social media.

Everyone is free to say and believe what they will, but I happen to know that seeing baptism announcements, seeing general conference quotes, etc. make me feel physically ill. Maybe I will get around to writing about the examples of the ugliness of Mormonism from my life, so you can better understand WHY it makes me sick.

For now, I just need you to understand that all those Mormon things you post, that perhaps bring you joy, make me ill. For my own health, I'm just going to keep the Mormons at a little further distance than Facebook allows.

Love and peace to you. I hope if you wondered about this, that you better understand.