None of our friends speak to us anymore. We have managed to keep our relationship with our families, although it is strained at times.
That's really what happens to inactive "faders." I have the same situation.
We experienced our first real "shunning" yesterday. We ran into someone we used to know at the grocery store. I smiled, waved and said "hello", she looked at me, looked away and kept walking.
They avoid me, but won't actively shun me if they wind up in my presence. I rarely pick up my wife at the Kingdom Hall, but the last time I did, she told me how Sister Smith and Brother Jones asked about me and miss me. I said "Really? Because they saw me and walked right past the car without a wave, acting like they didn't see me sitting here with the radio on and the window down."
We haven't managed to replace the community we lost when we left, although not for lack of trying. It's lonely ... especially as a stay at home mom.
You have to do something about that. I have coworkers, but don't really feel comfortable with them. I fit right in with other ex-JW's but am typically a loner on a daily basis. That works for me, but if not, I would pick up a hobby that forced me to interact with others- For me, maybe a book discussion group or some other thing I could go to meetup.com for.
I'll never be on the same page again when it comes to witness beliefs. I've come to strongly identify as "non-religious".
Amen to that. Amen, indeed.
But right now, the organization seems exciting. All that the governing body has done to make the religion seem hip and modern and relateable seems to be working, among the membership at least. There's witness feeds on social media, pictures of "Jehovah's happy people", and there's something I miss. The camaraderie, the sense of community and brotherhood, the feeling that you were a part of something bigger and better than yourself.
I totally do not feel as you do on that. It's a bunch of buzz about changes that mean failure of the old ways and the end not arriving yet. You see it as exciting, but I see it as desparation. I imagine the members are feigning excitement, maybe even to themselves, the same as they have in the past with anything out of Brooklyn.
Anytime my family sees my son "misbehave" (as toddlers do!) they make a point of saying how they see such a difference in him compared to kids at the kingdom hall ... and it makes me second guess myself.
That's a load of BS. Don't let them make you believe the KH kids are acting better. Try answering back- "Well, those kids will grow up with all kinds of complexes because some adult is punishing them for being normal."