I'm still in and going through the motions.
Illness is a good blind. Sickness is the one reason you can get out of the "privileges" without the weak label. You should come down with an esoteric but debilitating disease. Chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia are good if you don't want the diss of a mental disability.
No lab tests to disprove it, but you can still be really, really sick. Of course you'll have to resign as an elder. Field service and meeting attendance will get spotty because you're so sick you can barely keep up with your job. It's a tragedy about poor brother PP, isn't it? Get a wheelchair for your wife to wheel you to meetings in during your fade. Heh. If you're a construction worker on your secular job, this is a little harder to pull off.
But faking a mental disability is the most fun, for real, but it does carry some stigma.
PM me if you need assistance :-).
The pain is almost unbearable
by passwordprotected 37 Replies latest members private
-
wildflowermeadow
-
Open mind
I'VE GOT IT!
Touret's!
Get up to give a part and say:
"Well this latest bountiful feast provided by the slave...
*loud maniacal voice*
BULLSH*T!!
*back to WT drone voice*
... is such a tasty feast."
Apologize profusely but mix in a few "BULLSH*TS" to your apology.
You'll be canned, but safe.
That would be great YouTube fodder.
om
-
-
-
jehovahsheep
god is using you-be strong.this thing is happening everywhereand soon they will collapse.
-
jehovahsheep
i bet you never got this much encouragement from your finely trained elder peers.
-
wildfell
Oops, third time lucky!
Please take heart that this is the beginning of your journey to freedom. It's a transition phase and you will go through it and emerge a spiritually and mentally free man. One day in the not too distant future you will not care what jw's think of you. You will be too removed from them and their captive mindset and their treadmill lives. You will build a new life for yourself, one day at a time.
I understand the pain and turmoil you feel because that is where I was just over a year ago. The pain is very intense but it doesn't last forever. I am now in a peaceful place and enjoying feeling closer to God and to Jesus and reading the Bible without the watchtower lies and shackles. I am still rebuilding my life, but it is a quality life, not like the sham life I lived while I was a jw.
I could not do a fade. I just stopped going. I knew people thought I was spiritually weak, but at the end of the day, it's what I think of myself that is more important to me. However, you do need to think about how to exit and plan that carefully so that there is minimal damage to you and your wife. Other posters have said to remember theocratic warfare - only tell the truth to those that deserve it. That's really great advice.
Have you thought about finding a good therapist to help you through this tough time? A therapist may assist you to find clarity and help you with strategies to cope.
I've seen the habit of some elder bodies to simply refuse to accept a resignation. They continue to assign duties as if it never happened. There's a simple cure for that. Stop performing. Don't show up for the assignments. Just stop. They'll get the hint.
This happened to my husband. He tried to resign because he had had enough of being an elder and wanted some down time. He resigned 3 times and they wouldn't accept it. He stopped performing, so they waited until the CO visit and then deleted him! It was payback time for all the times he refused to let them get an ego trip at the expense of vulnerable people in the congregation.
-
poppers
Another thing that's causing pain is the realisation that I'll be viewed as 'weak' and 'lacking in spirituality' when the truth is I've never felt more spiritual or closer to God in my whole life. Why oh why oh why is it so hard?
If you know in your heart that you are feeling more spiritual or closer to God then the heck with how others view you. Do you want to have others dictate how you should feel? If you do you'll always be at the mercy of someone else. You feel what you feel, and owning those feelings takes precedence over others' views. You aren't "weak" but are actually very strong because you are following your conscience.