Dec 31 2009
The end of a decade…
Well, there it goes… the first decade of the 2000’s, over. It’s been good. I rode two financial downturns… but certainly enjoyed the booms before them. I traveled, got married, moved around, worked at a few places and then decided it was time to start writing about my past as a religious zealot and why I left it behind, and what I think about all of that now.
While I only started this blog in 2009, many of the things I write about are thoughts I’ve pondered over many years. The beginning of this decade is when I officially started telling people that I had left my religion, when I really felt like I had left my religion, and was no longer looking over my shoulder for the wrath of the big guy upstairs. The beginning of this decade was a feeling of absolute freedom… in 2000 I was open about leaving my religion, I left my job, traveled solo for some time and really started to know myself, and… like myself.
While the decade had massive events that were horrific… I would rate this a good decade for me, personally. I got married, grew a lot in a career I like, met some amazing people who are now some of my dearest friends, challenged myself, got healthy, and did all kinds of other good things. This doesn’t mean I didn’t have my share of disappointment (getting laid of, twice, during the tech bust comes to mind), but overall, the positive in my life outweighed the negative. Thankfully.
I left my religion… was open about it… and still had a great decade (in fact, some of my best years ever); and I was always taught that life was no good without God… so, as I go into 2010… I call bullshit on this theory. I’ve officially tested it, and the exact opposite appears to be true.
3 responses so far
This decade has also shown me that people can live incredibly fulfilling lives without religion, sometimes as a direct result of leaving it behind. For better or for worse, I would say that, for me, this decade was more productive and edifying than the one before and I’d like to continue that streak.
Well happy new year to you.
I don’t think one need religion to have a fulfilling life. In fact, fulfillment has nothing to do with religion; it has to do with love–which is God (by name or not). So I assume you are experiencing a lot of love in your life. That is wonderful.
God bless you and happy new year
Last year was my first year after walking away from religion superstition. It was a great year for me as well. As you know, I too was laid off from my job in June. But it was the best thing that could have happened as I’ve successfully launched my own business.
Looking for an invisible man in the sky to bestow his love and guidance for every circumstance in life is pointless. Good or bad, life is what you make of it.
Happy belated New Year.