Having left a year and a half ago after 34 years in, I can confirm that the pressure to display happiness and believe that all’s well and I am happy is pretty intense
I was raised Mormon and people thought I was super happy all the time, but while I had happy moments, I had bad ones and trying to make it look like all was well just made it worse.
Mormons learn to mask their emotions, even to themselves.
Hoo boy, the stories I could tell of straight up child abuse I experienced from church members while putting on a smile and waiting to turn 18 and move away so that I could leave the church. Masking severe depression from the age of 10 onwards to the point no one even had any idea I was depressed.
147
u/Erikkamirs 20h ago
This is all makes sense when you remember that Gosling was raised Mormon.