I believe to define what normal is, in relation to being a JW or ex-JW, relates to what it means to be a healthy person, both mentally and physically. Don't worry; I'm not pushing reading Men's health magazines, or some type of motivational group thang. I will say I believe normality can be defined by how your body and mind react.
Being a JW is not normal. I would say having a strict Biblical mindset isn't very normal either. Being a JW teaches you to live a perpetual childhood, to follow the society even if you don't agree with them, as if they were your mother. In essence, a group of 12 people, people who you probably never meet, are your surrogate family. People are never meant to be brought up like this. Maybe they feel like they are fulfilling some kind of sacred duty, and it makes them feel special, but it's still a form of kidnapping in my opinion.
Other things that your body can't take: You have to minimize as much free-time as possible for leisure and recreation even with a full time job, you have to dress like shit, you live in constant fear of sin, and possibly the most harmful thing you can do to yourself: you can not trust yourself. It is the ultimate expression in self-denial. Denial of self, leads to denial of who you are as a person. It's like you don't even exist. You're merely God's plaything. And I can tell you that being a JW wasn't normal for me. I was going through a mid-life crisis and I was only 22, and I had lost interest in maintaining my physical health. You live such a separatist lifestyle it's ridiculous.
Likewise, being an ex-JW, I think I have defined myself in a way to lead as normal of a life as possible. Personally, I cannot spend as much time here as many of you people do. I can't live in this perpetual on-line world where most people who exist in my life are people I can't even see or talk to. I don't think we were made to be that way. You've got to have fun. You need to try new things, create things. C'mon, how much room is there for creativity as a JW (very little). Go hiking, try different foods, mess things up a bit, role-play, wear women's clothes, learn salsa dancing, go to gay clubs, make your own world, don't depend on others to do it for you.
I think maintaining yourself in a good way relates to what it means to be a normal person. Accept ambiguity, accept there is black and white with relation to the laws of the universe, accept the strange, the weird, the chaotic, as long as it makes yourself and others better people.
