What aspect of freedom from the borg do you love the most??????????

by BLISSISIGNORANCE 8 Replies latest social entertainment

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  BLISSISIGNORANCE

  We all had personal reasons for becoming JWs and we have all left for just as many different reasons.

  But I'm really interested in what types of freedom people have found and are enjoying since fleeing from the WTS cult.

  For me the greatest sense of freedom has been in the way I live my life with my family. Now we are able to 'be free' (in reality we were always free, we just didn't know it because we empowered men and they controlled us) with our time and energy. We associate with a variety of different people, we sleep in, we garden, we just do nothing, we read books that have nothing to do with the WTS, we relax on Tues. and Thurs. nights, we ask questions, and we are no longer afraid of elders.

  But the greatest joy has been that I can bring my children up with love, creativity and flexability, to accommodate the various personalities and individual needs. No more rigid, inflexible rules that just don't work with the majority of children. The fact is that now they can do things that kids do, even make mistakes, and not feel like they've sold their soul to the devil. No more guilt for them for not wanting to talk about the bible, not wanting to wear ties or skirts, not wanting to be seen by peers on a Saturday morning knocking on doors, not wanting to miss out on camps, school dances and birthday parties, and not wanting to be different! My joy is seeing them enjoy freedom too. Not that I've thrown good principles out the door, but at least now we can do things in our time, with our personalities, with our needs and wants.............it's our choice.

  I love celebrating my children's birthdays, sending them on camps knowing they're going to have the time of their lives, seeing them becoming interested in the opposite sex, meeting their boy/girlfriends, watching them develop into adults and being there for them, helping them through the bad and supporting and celebrating the good.

  So that's it in a nut-shell from me. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this question.

  Cheers and 'power to the family'

  Bliss.
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  Dansk

  Being able to think for myself!
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  RAYZORBLADE

  I would have to say: living guilt free.

  Gradually over many years, becoming non-judgemental, tolerant and accepting of differences.

  It has taken me almost 20 years to get to that point, post-JW.

  MUCH HAPPIER now.
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  ozziepost

  The most? Well, there's so many things! Let's see:

  1. Learning the Truth

  followed by:

  2. Reading what we like.

  2. Choosing to do things without feeling guilty.

  3. Not having to measure up. (You're only as good as your last report!)

  4. Away from the controllers.

  5. Meeting up with fellow shiraz lovers!

  Cheers, Ozzie
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  Lady Lee

  The freedom to be genuinely me - to think, to feel, to do and be the real me.

  I spent so many years being what I was told to me. Only a sliver of the real me was ever allowed to show. Now I believe what I want, I allow my feelings to be expressed, I do what I want when I want. I am me and I am OK

  I love Virginia Satir's I am ME and I am OK

  In all the world, there is no one exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone chose it. I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or myself. I own my own fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own all my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me I can become intimately acquainted with me. By doing so I can love me and be friendly with me in all parts. I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and others that I do not know. But as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more about me. However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest and invent something new for that which I discarded. I can see, hear, feel, think, say and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore I can engineer me.

  I am me and I Am OK!
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  freedom96

  Freedom in every sense of the word. Not being worried if I am doing "something wrong' is great, not going to the meetings, having friends no matter what religion if any they are. Too many to list.

  Being a witness does not allow one to be everything that they can. There is so much more out there to enjoy and appreciate.
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  obiwan

  Not to be obligated to be at meetings 3 days a week, and if not being harrased about not being there.
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  Goshawk

  Not feeling guilty for having independant thoughts.
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  BLISSISIGNORANCE

  we all love our freedom...........whatever form that freedom takes. thanks for sharing.

  cheers, bliss