Ashitaka,I sort of discussed some of this in the thread above:
"Do U Feel JWs Look Down on U 4 Leaving? Help."
Check it out. Anger is normal, as is grief and mourning over this kind of loss. I had lots of friends in the Witnesses, and have worked over the past few years to find new ones. I don't think I have anyone as close as I used to be to a few JWs, except my wife, but that may change with time. I have very fulfilling work and lots of great goals, and that helps, as did doing a lot of writing on the old H2O board for about a year. Now I just don't need it as much. Time helps a lot. And I agree with Joelbear that you will only have a small handful of really close friends in a lifetime anyway. If you read my post above, you'll also see some ways I've used to take the power out of the hands of the WTS and keep it with myself. What I came to understand was that my main reason for leaving was that my spirituality had become much deeper than that of the WTS and the Witnesses, and there was no way I could accept what they taught any longer. I outgrew it and the transformation made it impossible for me to stay a Witness. It would be like an adult trying to fit into the clothes he wore at age six. You've simply outgrown them, and there is no going back. It is so much nicer living as an adult.S4
"Do U Feel JWs Look Down on U 4 Leaving? Help."
Check it out. Anger is normal, as is grief and mourning over this kind of loss. I had lots of friends in the Witnesses, and have worked over the past few years to find new ones. I don't think I have anyone as close as I used to be to a few JWs, except my wife, but that may change with time. I have very fulfilling work and lots of great goals, and that helps, as did doing a lot of writing on the old H2O board for about a year. Now I just don't need it as much. Time helps a lot. And I agree with Joelbear that you will only have a small handful of really close friends in a lifetime anyway. If you read my post above, you'll also see some ways I've used to take the power out of the hands of the WTS and keep it with myself. What I came to understand was that my main reason for leaving was that my spirituality had become much deeper than that of the WTS and the Witnesses, and there was no way I could accept what they taught any longer. I outgrew it and the transformation made it impossible for me to stay a Witness. It would be like an adult trying to fit into the clothes he wore at age six. You've simply outgrown them, and there is no going back. It is so much nicer living as an adult.S4