Interview · moment 6 of 19
Telling Family About the Divorce and Leaving Mormonism Together
from The Morman and the Meth Head with Jessa Reed and Aaron Woodall · #120
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
4 minGuest
Aaron recounts breaking the news of his divorce and his exit from the church to his family simultaneously, and discusses fears about raising a kid without religion before realizing it was actually easier without it.
- 12:35Tim left the church at the same time his wife left him.
- 12:52He held onto Mormonism longer than he wanted because he feared he couldn't teach his kids about life, death, and morality without religion.
- 13:25When both he and his ex-wife hit their breaking point simultaneously, they quit the church together.
- 13:38He realized raising kids outside religion is easier because he gets to make all the rules and decide what happens when they die.
- 14:10Tim says he's never been vulnerable and has been hard his whole life.
- 14:34Even his podcast vulnerability is calculated—he lays everything out to maintain control and prevent others from using it against him.
- 14:50Last year he started reconciling parts of himself he'd hidden and had to confront his negative relationship with feelings and shame around emotions.
- 15:20The guest was the first person in Tim's life who was in touch with his feelings and didn't hate himself for having them.
- 15:42Respecting the guest allowed Tim to see those emotional qualities as acceptable in himself, possibly preventing a psychotic break.
- 16:03Their relationship functions as mutual training—each helping the other develop qualities they previously suppressed or lacked.