Pretty much the same. I had already said 'shit' inside the DC Mormon temple and smoked weed for breakfast. I just no longer own a suit and tie.

I was lucky.
I was never in the shackles and chains.
Age 11 a classmate told me about Theism ,,,, I just laughed.
Little did I know then , that Billions of people believed that stuff.

Not having to go to church Sunday morning wearing scratchy panty hose and a hand-me-down, ill-fitting dress and listen to all the little old ladies wearing way too much perfume warble out-of-tune to archaic hymns and peer down their noses at you with a sanctimonious attitude, all the while trying to decipher the gobbledygook of nonsense coming out of the pulpit -- I felt heavenly!

I was like a weight had been lifted. The only thing is that I don't know anyone else who is an atheist, (or agnostic) so sites like this give me a chance to talk to like minded people.

I have to admit I kind of felt like the cat who kept wanting outside, and when i finally got outside, i really wasn't sure what to do.

I think the hardest thing about leaving religion is th eloss of a sense of belonging to a group and a loss of a sense of community. Giving up the actual beliefs was actually pretty simple by comparison.

In other posts I have said that we humans, as animals, evolved as "herd animals" in groups which better insured our survival. To some extent it is hard wired in each of us to greater or lesser degrees to feel safest when we are a part of a group and have a place in the group/ This is instinctual. As animals we are still subject to instincts and drives and often those instincts and drives over rule our rational thoughts and lead us to irrational behaviors and beliefs.

Just because humans are capable of ratiohnal thoughts, doe snot make us wholly rational beings, and we often make decisions based on instincts and drives instead of logical or rational thinking.

Very. For me it was very liberating when I took god out of the equation and realized that we just live in a a shitty world where people do shitty things to each other and shitty things happen to good people. It just made no sense to me that a loving, all knowing god could let people like Hitler and Trump come into power. Also let war, famine, disease and natural disasters wreck havoc on innocent people. Taking god out made me less angry.

I've more or less always been free from the dogma of a religion, but I find it hard to bare what is happening in the world through religion and I struggle with people who believe in such nonsense I know I should respect peoples views but deep down I think they are nuts..

I never wore them

I'm still feeling the positive effects each day so it's a constant reminder to me to try and help others abandon the stultifying harm or can foster.

Honestly no different than I do know although my Sundays are freer.

Well Free. I do not feel guilty about being human. If I see breast I appreciate them. I do try not to stare so much I make a woman feel uncomfortable, but I don't feel guilty about appreciating her femininity. I don't worry about abiding by some magical gods arbitrary rules that often contradict themselves. I can accept that I'm human and make mistakes and that what happens to humans, it's not something that I need to feel guilty about. I can be very happy with the fact that if I actually try to do good that it is in fact good enough. I don't feel guilty or worry about unknown crimes that I didn't know I committed.
Sex is better than ever I can fantasize about a neighbor, I can act out any sexual behavior as long as my partner is up for it. What goes on in my mind is my business and does not affect anyone else. If I do have sex as long as my partner or partners are consenting and no one gets hurt, thats great. I am married and have a monogamous relationship but if we decided to do something different we could with no perverse God watching us.
It is simply good enough to want to be a good human. I am comfortable with that and what is different is I am now happy with what and who I am.

It it empowered me to break away from the chains of ideology and led me down a more rational path that has opened my mind up and cued me in to a bigger bolder universe.

I was relatively young, so what I felt the most was relief that I didn't have to sit through mass every Sunday. My sister and I were still expected to go, so we went, I'd snag that day's program to prove we'd been there, and then we'd cross the street to Dunkin' Donuts and have breakfast using the collection money.
As I grew older, I realized how much religion controlled almost all aspects of our lives, and I started fighting back against that. In the process, I alienated nearly everyone I was close to during that time. Maybe I went a little overboard, in retrospect, I probably could have handled it differently. Being a fairly militant atheist, at least in the beginning, really made a lot of people very uncomfortable. I actually reveled in that though. I have always challenged the status quo, and those who support it. My mother always said I was born defiant. I guess if anyone knew that, it was she. "Losing my religion" didn't fill me with doubt at all. It empowered me, it validated everything I'd already known. It pissed me off that all these people were lying to me and to themselves. I still hate liars, and I often have contempt for those who buy the lies, especially when they're so obvious. It really doesn't take that much effort and critical thinking to figure out when someone is trying to pull one over on you. I do feel 'free' inasmuch as I am able to take a stand against the intrusion of religion into my life. I've armed myself with the facts and I'm willing to take on anyone when it comes to trying to force that bullshit on me.

I felt free for a while until I realized that nearly every political persuasion acts like a religion too. So I had to break free from those shackles as well.

I feel free but lonely too. Realizing things that most of the world doesn't is a lonely business.

I didn't feel free at first. I felt lost and confused. Still working my way through that, but making progress.

Empowered

Very free.