I had, for at least 5 years, a lingering fear of Hell after I deconverted, even though I knew in my conscious mind that it was baloney. It was like my emotional state was battling my reasoning abilities on this point. When I finally did get out of that emotional state I felt a sense of joy and relief that's hard to describe. Now I see that negative emotional states isn't something you can reason yourself out of, but something you have to work with to overcome.