Zach Anderson Quits Everything He Knows

Zach Anderson was raised to be a devout Mormon, with the belief that he could earn God’s favor if he could only be good enough. Obedient enough. Perfect enough. But Zach had a secret: he was gay, which meant his very existence was condemned by the church—and, so he believed, condemned by God. Zach’s specific story is about leaving Mormonism and its community; coming out at age 37 after a lifetime of being told that to be gay was the worst thing he could be; deconstructing his faith and relationship with God; letting go of perfectionism as a survival mechanism. But more broadly: this is a story about the process of leaving everything you know in order to become who you are, and the courage it takes to build a new life that costs you the entirety of your old one.

The intro ends, and the episode begins, at 00:03:13.

About Zach Anderson (he/him):

Zach is a dad, gay man, attorney, nutrition coach, ex-Mormon, & former collegiate swimmer. He was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona. He grew up in a devout Mormon family amidst a significantly sizeable Mormon community.

He attended Brigham Young University and served a mission for the Mormon Church in Eugene, Oregon. While at BYU on a swimming scholarship, he had a prolific swimming career. He was a three-time All-American and placed in the top 16 at National Championships five times. He attended Creighton University Law School where he met and converted his ex-wife of 9 years.

Beginning in 2015, he started to address some significant internal issues he had with Mormonism. In 2020, he actively started to deconstruct his relationship with Mormonism and chose to affirmatively remove his membership records from the Mormon Church.

This was particularly done at the prompting of the expected birth of his daughter; in 2020, his daughter Maeve was born. Being Maeve’s dad caused him to deeply ponder how he could better love himself, and help equip Maeve to live a life of joy and fulfillment. And to actively remove her from a religion that caused him significant trauma and harm.

In September 2021, after nine years of marriage to his best friend, he finally came out as a gay man. Zach and his former wife divorced in March 2022.

Find Zach on IG @motionsustained, and at https://www.motionsustained.com/

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Music: Michael Blumenfeld, mikebloomstudio.com

Sound engineering + edits: Adam Day, https://www.adamdayphotography.com/

Producer: Cathleen Kisich

Host: Holly Whitaker, https://hollywhitaker.substack.com/

Host: Emily McDowell, https://emilyonlife.com

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