Do You Regard This Place As A Rehab Centre?

by Englishman 25 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  DanTheMan

  I spent many years as a dub pretending that I thought everything was hunky-dory in JW land. But inside I often had very negative feelings about the whole thing, but I thought I was the only one, hence I kept at it long after I started having serious doubts. It was so great when I first discovered this site and saw people gleefully and hilariously deriding the WT and voicing so many of the things I had been feeling. I WASN'T ALONE!!!!

  I still get a tremendous amount of pleasure coming here and having a good laugh at the Cracktower's expense. So yes it is very much a rehab for me, laughter is the best medicine as they say.
• 

  hillary_step

  Hello E'Man,

  As interesting post. I have to say that I have not found this site to be therapeutic myself, but I have found it to be informative. I am a lot of a loner and very seldom share my personal feelings with others, so from that angle I have not felt the need to 'talk things through'

  I do believe that for some people 'moving on' from this site is a healthy thing as it shows that perhaps they have finally buried their WTS personas and are now completely living their own lives. It may be though, this is for people who have felt the Board to be needed therapy.

  Some, and I suspect that you like myself are a little like this, view the Board as just an addition to ones circle of friends. I think you once said that the Board was part of your life, but was not your life and I feel the same way. For those who see things the other way around then perhaps, when they do move on, it is a good sign.

  Sometimes I do get bored and also feel very guilty at the time I spend reading posts while I should be amassing a vast fortune or saving peoples lives on Skid Road. To balance these feelings every few months I announce I am leaving the Board and then wander off for a few weeks scowling at the pigeons, but this only to maintain some sort of civility between my work ethic and myself!

  Best regards - HS
• 

  nowisee

  i found out about this site roughly 4 wks ago, lurked for l day then began posting. for the 27 yrs. that elapsed between leaving wts and 4 wks ago i really had no one to talk to who could really understand what i had gone through and what had happened to me, why the wt experience was so profound and intense, and what it was taking for me to essentially deprogram myself through research and study and prayer. i have found this to be validating and reassuring....i'm NOT crazy!!

  also since my work is fairly solitary, i work at home in an art studio, i often feel like i am becoming a hermit. this forum has solved all that! it is wonderful to have a ready made social circle which is loving and accepting in the comfort of your home. it is amazing to find real friends who actually care in a little plastic box. it is also gratifying to think that one might be able to return the favor to others.

  thanks all.
• 

  unclebruce

  Me? well, I solved most of my dub hang ups over a period of years well before the advent of the internet I'm delighted that I learnt a lot more reasons as to why the WT is so wrong, and that I learned much of that from sites such as this.

  Yeah, i hung up my dub duds years before i went on line too. (but knowing where to piss on Charlie Russell's grave is great

  But I don't feel any sort of dependancy on this site other than the fact that I love many of the folk here. I post here because I like it here. It's as simple as that. how about you? Englishman

  Yep, i'm as simple as that too English. The relationships we form here are deeper than i ever thought possible when first mucking about on H20 - amazing.

  so do you recon the headaches are worth it? unc

  (((((my head throbbed for weeks when i first came on the net)))))
• 

  manon

  No, not for me. I was born a jw and left the org at the age of 17 in 1980. I've had many years of soul searching and made my peace with my religious upbringing years ago. I didn't have therapy sessions or books or the internet to find myself or the truth about the jw's. I had to use my gut instict. I used to call it gods voice.

  My brother came across this web site on Sept 2002 after the silent lamb march in nyc at watchtower hq. He came to me with this river of information that we never new exsisted.

  I've learned lots of things since visiting this site. It's a different kind of congregation. Many of the stories I've read are similar to my own and some are very different.

  One of the things that attracted me to this forum was the wild use of color and pictures. I was also able to relate to the jw lingo. Another thing that I enjoy is the different nationalities, It's like one giant assembly every day. Persons from other countries and even other states of the usa bring a flavor of their own ideas and culture so different from mine.

  Yet the base is the same jw related. I also appreciate the humor and intellegence that posters posses . Even the bickering is educational. This place it's like a daily xjw newspaper that I can contribute to or just read all about it. This site is a tremendous communication tool.
• 

  RAYZORBLADE

  Great topic Englishman.

  For me, there are many reasons I am here.

  Firstly, having been a jw at one time for starters and hanging out with other xjws, is a big drawing factor.

  Secondly, it is a form of rehab/finding resolve, even after many years. I am not afraid of being an ex-JW anymore.

  Thirdly, I could quite possibly end up meeting up with someone that was a JW that I knew. I keep hoping for that.

  Fourthly, even though it gets occasionally bogged down with topics I'm not crazy about sometimes, OVERALL, it's fun, and I like many of the people I have gradually come to know via this site.

  Fifthly, it's interesting to see what has transpired with the WTBTS over all these years, and be kept abreast of the latest news. Change of policies, doctrine, new light etcetera.

  Finally, if I can impart anything to anybody newly out of the WTBTS or encourage them to leave, being here is important.