035 Where Everybody Knows Your Name: Community and Friendship After Mormonism
“Every new friend is a new adventure...the start of more memories.”
Humans are social creatures. We are hard-wired from birth to seek for connection, care, and closeness from the humans surrounding us. Infants bond with their caregivers, toddlers find playmates at the park, and older children begin to learn what it means to forge deeper friendships. The communities we live in and interact with provide us with a place to belong, and friendships can afford us the deep connections to others that most humans need. As practicing Mormons, it can feel easy to find community and a place to develop friendships; after all, a ward is a ready-made community filled with people who share a common experience or belief. For many of us, the relative ease of finding these spaces of belonging and connection can be turned on its head after walking away from Mormonism. We may be left with the questions of where to look for new communities and how to build relationships with new friends.
In this episode, Oliver is joined by regular panelist Chloe and two guest panelists, Royleane and Sam, to talk about this idea of building community and nurturing new friendships after leaving Mormonism. They share their experiences with community and belonging during their participation in Mormonism, how they have approached creating new spaces for interaction and engagement, and share some thoughts and ideas for listeners who are looking to do this in their own lives.
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