Waking up can be a scary time

by Leopold theseconed 25 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  Giordano

  Hey guys I've been out for 55 years or so....... best decision my wife and I ever made.

  We've lived a very good life.

  However for those of you who have had and are having a rough time of readjusting would it surprise you to learn that there is a name for what you have been going through? And it's just not the JW's.

  http://marlenewinell.net/religious-trauma-syndrome-its-

  So apart from the hurt and anger you guys have made the right move, I can't comment on family issues, I just want to wish you well.

  Here's how I look at it. As a JW I make it through Armageddon or I've died and am resurrected. I am going to get the same welcome.

  "Ok Brother here's your rake and shovel and your Hazmat suit......... wear it at all times.

  Now get busy we've got a lot of dead people we have to clean up."

  Welcome to the new world.

  Did any of us realize that Paradise was going to be built over the bones of the dead?
• 

  Leopold theseconed

  Thanks so much for all the great expressions. It’s comforting to know I am not alone.

  Things are going to be ok.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  Leopold -- Thanks for this post. It reminds me and likely everyone here of what the experience was like to awaken to TTATT. The flood of emotions has often been compared to the loss of a loved one -- grief, guilt, anger.

  And thank you to all the posters here (esp the old timers who remain) who help others "pick up the pieces" of their broken lives and emotions. ONLY IF YOU HAVE PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED THIS can you possibly really relate to it.

  The greatest revenge is living a happy & successful life!
  
• 

  stuckinarut2

  Thanks again for sharing that great expression of yours DOC!

  It has become a mantra to SO many of us:

  The greatest revenge is living a happy & successful life!
  

  
  
• 

  stuckinarut2

  The other expression that helps is:

  "The only power they have over us is that which we allow!"
• 

  LongHairGal

  LEOPOLD:

  I agree that waking up to the truth about the JW religion can be scary or sickening. Everybody’s situation is different. In my case, that sickening feeling was balanced by the negative treatment I received as a working woman. I had few friends there.

  I was only too happy to be done with the religion!
• 

  Olig

  Good on you Leopold, you did well to make the jump. I myself was and still am terrified of the New world I've found myself in! I've found the experiences on this forum to be a massive help! Hope everything is okay if you need anything let me know!

  OG
• 

  All or nothing

  I don't know how I would cope without all the support of all my fellow POMO friends here. Even though waking up was hard, there is a indescribable joy that I now have. Life is precious and the light of day is brighter. Embrace every minute of this life. Live it now. Live it without regrets.
• 

  Xanthippe

  does anyone else remember the feeling when they realized things were just not true

  Hey Leopold I do remember realising there was no such God as Jehovah. It was like that scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when they have to step out onto what looks like thin air.

  Nothing under me to catch me anymore. No big protective person looking out for me and about to step in and make the world all cuddly and lovely. Lion and lamb stuff you know?

  I felt dizzy and sick at the thought of it.

  Thirty years down the line and I'm glad there is no big daddy watching everything I do. Now my life is down to me and that's the way I like it.
• 

  Phizzy

  Hi Leopold ! for me, born in and in for nearly six decades it sure was scary ! I knew when I walked away from the Kingdom Hall for the last time that I was in for a bumpy ride. All my immediate family are JW's, and my wife was born in like me. I did not know if our marriage would survive. Most of my business came from JW's, that dried up, but we survived.

  I was lucky, my wife came out with me, though she took longer than me to be mentally out, but I would not hassle her, now she really is mentally out, but still she misses all of her friends.

  I have come to realize that I never in my life knew true happiness until I left the Cult both mentally and physically.

  The journey was along a rough road that gradually got smoother. My family has little to do with us, but are still loving when we do meet, and have never shunned us in any real sense. Our children are out, they did so before us, and so our lovely grandchildren get to enjoy Birthdays and Christmas and a normal life.

  Keep on walking the road to Freedom and Happiness !