I've been connected to the Moho community in Portland for a long time now, but I didn't become a Moho blogger until recently. I was afraid that I'd get drawn too deep into the mohosphere, spend too much time reading the many good blogs out there and neglect other things. It's easy to do, especially for me. It happened when I first found the New Order Mormon message board. It was so good to find a safe place among people with similar experiences with the church. I dove in and spent WAY too much time reading and posting. So much of it was good and needed and helpful, but I had to take a step back.
Experiencing that helped me to be more balanced in how I approached blogging and becoming part of the Moho online community. For a few years now, I've been reading Moho blogs sporadically and have felt very blessed that so many people have decided to share so much. Now that I've become a small-time Moho blogger, I feel even more connected. I'm still lonely and afraid and indecisive sometimes. But I'm doing better.
I've made some wonderful friends who feel like family. It's amazing how we can find such meaningful connections with people so many miles away. The church discourages us from making connections online. Yet it provides NOTHING to meet the needs that the mohosphere does for so many of us. I can sit in a church meeting surrounded by people and feel utterly alone. I can read a blog post, write a blog post of my own or chat for five minutes with another Moho or Moho-friend and feel understood and renewed.
So while I may have come a bit late to the party, I'm glad I'm here. I'm happy you're all here too. Thanks to my buddy Jon for pushing me to start blogging. Thanks to all of you for coming along with me and letting me tag along with you on our crazy journeys. Here's to continuing that fellowship and camaraderie among us all.
I am glad that you are back! The online community certainly helps one to know that they are not alone.
ReplyDeleteNot only does the church discourage you from online friends, but anyone who you would meet from the Mohosphere. Divide and conquer seems to be their approach.
ReplyDeleteThanks Reina. It's feels really good to be posting again.
ReplyDeleteTo your point Mister Curie: Not only is it divide and conquer, it's dismiss and control, dehumanize and castigate. And most members and leaders don't even realize they're doing it because they don't think to step outside the narrow band of their own experience. That's what makes it most insidious and frustrating.
I'm happy that you're blogging. It's been great to get to know you through your blog. Keep writing for the rest of us that aren't so eloquent.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris. I'm glad we've connected as well. You underestimate the power of how you express yourself. The title of your blog "Good to be Free" is an example of that. So you'd better keep blogging too!
ReplyDeleteI SO agree with what you've written here. Many a Sunday I've gotten more edification and knowledge from talking online with friends than I ever hoped to get at church. And Amen to your response to Reina.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you've entered the MoHo blogging world, too. I totally understand what you mean about being sucked in, that happened to both Mister Curie and I in the past 6 months. It sometimes feels like this vicious cycle of enter the MoHo social network, get too caught up in it, freak out, drop out, rinse, and repeat. My only consolation is that plenty of other MoHo bloggers have done the same thing, so I don't feel *quite* so strange in my bipolar blogging antics.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm glad you're here! ((Pablo))!!