What don't you miss about meetings?

kwijibo

I don't miss being spoken to like i was someones best friend when i know they wouldn't pee on me if i was on fire.

I don't miss always standing on my own and having no one come and talk to me.

I don't miss having people talk around me about the great time they had at the latest sport/barbecue/dinner get-together which i wasn't invited to because i'm not spiritual enough.

I don't miss not having friends in the truth or out of the truth because i shouldn't mix with wordly people.

I don't miss being SO bored for all those hours a week.

I don't miss all the false smiles people give me when i look at them at the hall and the way they look away when i walk past them at the shopping center.

.................. Anyone got anymore?

Sentinel

What I don't miss:

Worrying whether or not I'm on time for the meeting, and whether I'm prepared. (Even though I worked a full time job, had non-believer who was violent and abusive, and had a small child.)

Worrying about whether or not my choice of attire is acceptable, because I had to rush so much, coming home from work, fixing dinner. And, oh my, I forgot that I had a part on the MS. Did they know that I through together my assignment in about ten minutes? Whether I was the Bible Student or the Householder. I always managed to come through, somehow. STRESS!!!!

Worrying about the horrible fear of armageddon.....that I would die anyway...because god could read my heart, and boy did I have a lot of unanswered questions.

Worrying about not going out in service enough, not contributing enough, not doing enough.

Worrying about the fact that I had to sit for hours while others gave their very droning lectures, that I've heard a million times before...and leaving to find my old trap of a car wouldn't start.

Worrying about whether my small, well behaved child would perhaps be "human" and giggle, or fart, or burp, and some elder would accost me from my seat and remove me to the back of the hall, chastizing me for my child "interrupting" the meeting. (This happened!!)

Worrying about whether or not my husband (non JW) was out screwing someone else, because I was always gone to meetings, always out in service, or always at assemblies...and still, I never could do enough.

...worrying, feeling guilty, feeling insufficient, feeling insecure, feeling unworthy....sad, unhappy..unfulfilled...

And wondering who I was.....really....And there must be much more to this life....And why wasn't I happy and full of joy if "this was really the truth". And wondering how I could possibly just walk away, because the cost was so very high. STRESS!!!!

Wow, I really don't miss a thing about going to meetings, except the few real friendships with those I connected with on a personal level, before and after meetings....that is, when I had a few minutes to spare.

acsot

...worrying, feeling guilty, feeling insufficient, feeling insecure, feeling unworthy....sad, unhappy..unfulfilled...
And wondering who I was.....really....And there must be much more to this life....And why wasn't I happy and full of joy if "this was really the truth". And wondering how I could possibly just walk away, because the cost was so very high. STRESS!!!!

Ditto. What a sad commentary on the "only true religion".

ashitaka

I don't miss them judging me about everything (appearance, type of car I drive, movies I watch, things I say, how I defend myself against bad elders, etc.)

ash

LB

While I do miss some old friends I certainly don't miss the self righteous attitudes that so many have. That holds true with most religions, but it's especially true with witnesses. After all they are the only ones that won't be destroyed.

Once at the mall after a meeting (which I skipped) a sister asked me why I didn't attend. I told her I just didn't feel like going that day. She tells me "well I hope I'm not standing close to you when armagedden starts". Wasn't said as a joke, she was dead serious.

I smile and tell her that the odds of her being close to me at any point in time are very slim. Not to worry.

Mulan

I miss nothing about it.

Lapuce

All those dubs acting nice just to look good in front of the elders and yet hated your guts...

What a relief to be out of this, I do though miss some people, but gained many friends outsid of the borg.

Lapuce

Lutece

Sentinel,

I felt the same way about maybe 90% of your post, horrible to think back on isn't it? Thank GOD we're free from that.

Anne

RubaDub

I don't miss the feeling of inadequecy that many of us experience in the borg.

The scripture so often read from the platform that anything we do "is what we should have done" is so overused. I know Paul never meant those words the way we hear them from the platform. Those words were meant to discourage ones boasting about themselves, not as a psychological tool to intimidate the flock.

It's always no matter how much we do, we should have done more. And having to listen to those obscure experiences about some 90 year sister in Upper Timbuctu that has one eye, in a wheel chair, has Hodgekins disease, yet pioneered last June, conducts 22 bible studies and travels through the jungle 3 hours to get to the meeting.

And then that look from the platform and the "are YOU wholesouled in YOUR service?"

*****Rub a Dub

Lieu

I don't miss feeling like a slave of men.

I don't miss never having a real Bible discussion.

I don't miss having questions which I could not ask.

I don't miss the "phonies" during the CO's visit.

I don't miss the boring songs played by tape in an octave that no human being could sing.

I don't miss people who could not have a conversation about an everyday topic.

I don't miss people who never say, "my thoughts are", but say, "well the WT says".

I don't miss elders, MS, who talk AT you and not TO you.

I don't miss the same drivel from the platform, day in and day out.

I guess I don't miss anything.

What don't you miss about meetings?

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