Beliefs - For those that have experienced leaving your religion, you know the ups and downs and the loneliness that can be felt as you navigate through the transition. Today's episode is a beautiful conversation with Rebekah Peterson where she opened up about her recent transition out of the LDS faith, aka Mormons. Rebekah was a devoted member her entire life, doing all of the so called "right" things in her faith. She and her husband were married in the temple and raised 6 beautiful children in the faith, as well as served in many church leadership positions. Rebekah is quite candid about the affect that serving in these positions had on her family. Her family sacrificed a lot of time and emotions, but she stayed committed. Over two years ago, she stumbled across some comments on Facebook from East Idaho News about a church article and the questioning and research began.

With that said, this episode is not about what led to the faith transition, this episode is about a beautiful message of hope. Rebekah wants the listener to know that thriving is possible for you as you make your faith transition. There is hope for you and even if it takes some time (possibly years) to feel at peace, that you're okay and you're not alone. Her relationship with her husband and children are more open and honest, her family meditates together, and she guides them to deal with life, without the foundation of the church. She reminds us that there are many resources online and there are communities that offer support as you transition. I also loved her advice to Get Out!! She meant get out and met people that are not like you. Become friends with people who look and believe different things from you. Embrace diversity and teach your children about diversity. Rebekah and her family lived in Japan and she loved providing that opportunity for her children. 

We also talked about how it isn't possible to leave and leave it alone because this transition can be very painful as it affects your foundation. But again, happiness and joy are possible so keep going!! Rebekah's parting words, "Show them how happy you are."