What's the best thing about no longer being a JW? (page 3)

MochaLatte

Weekday evenings to spend any way I please. It has been nearly 4 years and I'm still amazed at having all these evenings to myself.

chickpea

an intact family, since we were the only ones in,
and we are now all free and clear of current jeopardy..

but woefully, i have children who were harmed
and who will never quite be who they might have
been had their childhoods been spent otherwise.....

i almost wish i could believe in divine retribution...
i know which way that blade would cut.....

BurnTheShips

but woefully, i have children who were harmed
and who will never quite be who they might have
been had their childhoods been spent otherwise.....

That must be a difficult burden to carry. I know my own parents have regrets. Still, I know that they acted out of the best intentions for us. I am sure your children do too.

BTS

Mastodon

Let's see...

No more rushing from work to make the mid week meetings

No more getting up obscenly early on the weekends

No more ties, no more suits

Starting real relationships with my brothers, cousins and aunts

The fact that my wife has tood next to me through it all

Being less judgemental of the people around me

That my child (who's on the way) will not be subjected to a cult

That I'm finally free to be myself

I used to check my brain at the door when entering a KH. So the first thing that popped into my head is being able to finally "think" for myself. I can't even express in words how happy that made me feel, even though I virtually lost almost everything I ever knew.

The other stuff is icing, the freedoms, the celebrations, lack of guilt and always trying to please unhappy people...

And another very important thing for me was not having to put labels and judge others. That was awful as a JW.

Living life with these freedoms has taken some getting used to...still working on it.

Cthulhu

Being my own object of veneration. I can read what I want and not feel guilty because "*sigh* I still have to finish that new Watchtower and...damn it all, another one just came out." I can write and not have to sugar coat it so it "doesn't offend anyones bible strained conscience." I can research whatever religious and philosophical materials I want and quote them freely without having to contort them to somehow back up the bible. I can watch what I want. I can go and exercise and feel physically good without feeling that I've robbed jehovah of quality time I could have spent with him or in his service. I can have opinions based on something other than that wretched literature. I've gotten a couple of very nice tattoos. I can date gals because I genuinely like them and we share more in common than our religious persuasion. I can even date them if they (gasp) don't share every last one of my firm and unmovable convictions...which can also change at the drop of any one of the governing body members hats. What's great about not subscribing to that bull crap any more? I have a life, and as far as I know, I can only live it once. Not being a Witness means I can live that life for myself and those that I share that life with are the ones I genuinely want to share it with, not because I have to.

QuestioningEverything

For me the very best thing is that I no longer have to deal with the tremendous guilt that I had-guilt for not doing enough spiritually. I really, truly feel 'FREE'. Thank you JWN and all of it's members for helping me with this! I will be eternally grateful.

What's the best thing about no longer being a JW?