Eventually I realized that millions of people have lived lives of incredible meaning, morality, and happiness without gods. I soon realized I could be more happy and moral without God than I ever was with him.

You sort of glossed over this, but it seems like the bit that a lot of people have trouble with (and have trouble realizing that it's even possible). There are lots of arguments for this position, but I'm just curious if there were any particular things that were "Aha" moments for you here.

ETA: Do you think you could have come to this position before rejecting God? That you could have said "even though there is a God, it would still be possible to be moral and happy and purposeful if there weren't"? I'm curious how easy it is to get people to realize this before it's their last resort for preserving morality etc.