Believing Your Story is Real?

by new boy 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  new boy

  This is my 200th topic after 14 years here on the board. I hope I can make it a good one.

  So my topic is stories. We all I like them... actually no I think we LOVE them, don't we? I know I do.

  And let's face it I've heard some great stories here and even had a few of my own to share.

  I drove a taxi in Portland Oregon for six months back in 2008. In was amazing! One of the most spiritual things I've ever done. I drove everyone, the rich business owner, the hooker, the bums and the woman dying from cancer. We laughed and we cried together. Just like we have done here on this board.

  Everyone had a story and everyone believed their story is true.

  We seem to as a species who want to identify with "form" or our story.

  We have created a story and believe it is true. 

  As soon as you met someone they start telling you their story.

  I'm married and a mother of two. Wife and mother.

  I'm a Jehovah's Witness and from England. Religion and nationality.

  I'm a student by day and a stripper at night. Vocation.

  But really, are any of these things REALLY you. Or are they simply a story or a role you have chosen (or others have chosen for you) to experience right now or in the past?

  Maybe you are bigger than these roles or stories. I believe we all are.

  Are you happy with your current story or role? If you are not, you really have just three options for happiness.

  1. Change it and leave it. Easy to say but tough to do. Change is rarely easy.

  2. If you can't change it or leave it for whatever reason, then make peace with it and accept it. This can be also tough to do but will be necessary for your happiness.

  3. If you can't do either of the first two. Then the third option is to piss and moan and complain about it. This does nothing to change the existing situation. It does makes you feel a little better about it, by telling other people how miserable you are.

  Just like the story about the dog and the nail.

  A man walks into an old general store that has a wooden floor. There is a big fat blood hound lying on the floor next to an old pot belly stove. The dog is in pain sounding bad. Whooooo.... Whooooo, the dog bellows. "What's wrong with your dog?" the man asks. "Oh he is lying on a sharp nail." The clerk says. "Well, why doesn't he move?" The man asks. The clerk smiles and says. "I guess it's not hurting him bad enough yet."

  Yes, the dog like many people like option three the best.

  Time to move yet?
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  Tenacious

  We have created a story and believe it is true. I have done this many times.

  So basically many of the stories you have told are complete fabrications? Nice.
  
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  new boy

  Hey Tenacious

  You missed the point buddy. The stories I have related here are true enough. The roles I've played are not who I really am. I played the role of Jehovah's Witnesses for over 50 years and yet that is not who I truly was. I believed in that role. In the end it was just a role. I have stepped off that stage.

  What roles are you currently playing that are not who you really are?
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  DesirousOfChange

  Maybe you are bigger than these roles or stories. I believe we all are. Are you happy with your current story or role?

  I think many people who were caught up in the "JW Role" are much "bigger" than the role they were playing.

  The fact is, being a JW stifles a person in so many ways. Failing to attain a good education keeps people from reaching their full "role potential". There are some very intelligent and gifted people here who are general laborers or perform janitorial work (many, many are gifted entrepreneurs) because they played a "short-term" role. They were promised that they would be moving into a "new role" (in The New World) very shortly. Had they NOT been playing the JW Role, many could have excelled in science or medicine or art and perhaps contributed greatly to our society (the human society), and found great success both financially and in their personal achievement. Instead, they were held back by playing the JW Role and mostly only contributed to the WT Society.

  Fortunately, I now see many stories here where people are leaving the JW Role at an early enough time in life to "change and leave it". But others simply did not have that luxury. We played the JW Role way too long so that any big role change was no longer an option in our life.

  So you will find many of us here who you might consider are only here to "piss and moan" about what the JW Role robbed from us. Although I prefer to look at it as attempting to warn younger Doubters who show up here and are indecisive about what to do. Hopefully it will help them to not waste any more of their life in the JW Role. And, hopefully at some point, we can all "make peace with it" (before we die).

  Doc

  The greatest revenge is living a happy & successful life!
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  NVR2L8

  A few months ago I sat in on a lecture given by Clint Malarchuk, the National Hockey goaltender who almost died on the ice when his jugular was sliced by a skate. Later in life he self medicated because his PTSD was never treated and he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chin. He talked about A.C.T. = Accept your situation, Change what makes you miserable or Trash it all and start over. I related perfectly to his message. Had I continued as a JW I would have committed suicide. I could not longer accept wasting the little time I have, couldn't change anything within the cult, so I trashed it all including my belief in God. This man's story was one that deeply touched me. He wrote a book that I will be purchasing soon.
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  Xanthippe

  So when Sowhatnow started a thread about her beautiful wildlife photography and you posted this, what does it tell us about your story?

  new boy2 months ago

  I saw a white tail deer in my back yard
  
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  freddo

  I think job/religion/hobby/nationality/married/parent/son/daughter etc. are all facets of each one of us. We identify ourselves by the context of the question and probably what we feel proudest (or least embarrassed) about at the time.
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  new boy

  Xanthippe

  It means that I like wildlife as much as any man.

  By the way it's a great floor plan and it always looks good.
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  Coded Logic

  Identity is both transient and also many different things. We, as individuals, are the sum total of our personal experiences, families, cultures, worldviews, hopes, dreams, intentions, etc. And our stories are a way of trying to explain that in the ongoing narratives of our lives.