I would hope you could find some good in your time as a mormon, some lessons you learned or behaviors you practiced that are worth keeping, brotherhood or care for your fellow man(I don't know specifics I was never religious). People can't help what they believe, you have to keep learning forever, its not a waste to be wrong, its a waste to stop searching for whats right.

Think of how worse you would feel had you waited another 10 or 20 years.

I was born into the Mormon church. However, I always doubted and stopped tryign to believe when I was around 16.

I am very resentful of all the time in my childhood tht was wasted via church activities.

Good for you, partner! Don't worry about the past, nothing you can do about it now anyway. And remember, science is true whether you believe in it or not.

Welcome to a truly freethinker community.

Congratulations on coming to reason. Don't lament the time that's already gone. It's pointless.
Just go forward and make the best of your life.
Focus on your future.

I think you have made a wise choice. I can see that you have a dark complexion. I always wonder why anyone of color would ever choose a religion that discriminates against people of color.

Welcome to the Dark Side. In all seriousness, it's not easy to reject what you've been taught your whole life. Religion is great at making you feel bad for leaving it, especially since you're essentially abandoning your current support system. So it's important that you're finding yourself a new support system.

Since you've been defending the religion for a while, would you mind answering some questions I've had? I'm curious about the church as presented by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Specifically, the way the religion is presented in one of their South Park episodes and also the Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon. Things such as the Garden of Eden really being in Jackson County, Missouri; Joseph Smith conveniently being unable to show the writings to anyone, and the church only recently accepting African-Americans as worthy of their church.

And while I feel these concepts are silly, I cannot throw stones since I grew up believing in a worldwide flood, the sun standing still, and burning bushes. So yeah, a lot of us grew up with stories that are actually quite hard to swallow.

Glad you made it out. That must have been hard when you'd been so entrenched. Good for you!

I think we all regret things in the past or at least wish we’d played it differently. All we can do is move on and take any positives, no matter how small, and move forward.

It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish that matters.

PS. Hope you’ve seen ‘The Book of Mormon’ musical

Welcome & congrats on making the journey. It can be a tough one. One good thing, you don't have to 'believe' in science. It can be proven & demonstrated, so no faith required! & it keeps filling in those "gaps"! Glad you made it here!

Kudos to you! Try not to waste time regretting past mistakes. We all spend time doing things that we later regret. Just move forward, focus on your future, and be the best version of you!

Science trumps mythology.

You and I have a lot of similiarities in our background, based on this post. I too, regret the time I now feel was spent deceiving others to believe a certain way - a way which meant nothing more to me than "It's what mom & dad said to do".

Try getting rid of the catholic guilt driven into an impressionable mind. Even after 49 years of life it still creeps in. ugh!!