or are you still grossly affected because you were once a JW?
Would You Now Consider Yourself "Normal" Since You're "Out"?
by minimus 36 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
BFD
um, no and sometimes.
BFD
-
nvrgnbk
I'll never be "right".
-
greendawn
Got over that phase gradually after leaving the JWs by about three years later things were back to normal, realised the FDS was a con and spiritually sterile and inept, armageddon as described by the JWs was a myth, salvation through the WTS was an impossibility, many non JWs are much nicer and cultured than the average dub, the god image they projected was completely wrong, any doctrine they themselves formulated was worthless.
By 1991 I was coperating with a wonderful down to earth evangelical pastor in helping youths that were getting ensnared by the JWs and other cultic groups.
-
collegegirl21
I think I was normal before I even left the religion other than the double life I was living.
-
WTWizard
Probably as normal as I will ever get. I no longer obey the Puketower directives, and I am no longer afraid of them banning things like entertainment, sleep, coffee, school, or whatever they are planning on banning when the Kool-Aid editions start coming out next year. I am going back to celebrating Christmas, even if it's worshiping the sun (in fact, I already have a good many of the decorations up and it's only July--including crosses and demon angels that the Tower would run away from).
As for being normal in the sense of being where I would have been without the Tower, I probably will never get there. Too much time was p*$#ed away in the misery, plus losing opportunities for work that could have paid as much as $32 an hour but would have involved programming computers for the military. I have fallen substantially behind in computer skills due to the Tower, and I realize I might never totally get caught up. The social opportunities have been pathetic, Tower or no Tower (but at least I will not be rewarding Jehovah for killing those off). Besides, I will always have a hatred for the Watchtower Society as long as I am around.
-
daystar
As "normal" as anyone ever is. Having been raised a JW, it is a part of me and always will be.
Why let the past influence the "now" in a negative way? Each of us have lives with negative and positive events and situations. We choose whether to focus on one or the other. Wemake this choice every day when we awake. It doesn't matter whether we choose one or the other, ultimately. They are not going to change. All we can effect is our attitudes towards them and create our futures in more positive ways, basing our future decisions on what we have learned from our pasts.
-
Marcel
thats a question i asked myself many times. i believe that i wont be completely "normal" ever. i was raised and doomed to live that life. it makes me angry sometimes. its a feeling like being locked up in a cage.
but i believe i can live a happy life. but the JWs are a part of my life. i have to learn to be happy with it instead of trying to deny it. -
babygirl75
I think anyone that was born into the religion or raised as a JW, never actually will feel 100% "normal". Reason being, alot of us have family that is still in and we are the outsiders, so there is no "normal" family functions or gatherings. When you see old friends that you have had in the past & grew up with, you are shunned & they act as if they don't know you. So for many of us our lives have really only begun after leaving the org and we have to take it from that point on, but your past as a JW and all that comes with it never leaves you! It will be 6 years next month since I've left and it still affects me one way or another...
-
minimus
Hey! I'm more "normal" than most non JWs that I know.