Remember how much your life revolved around fears? Fears of how going to a new place, might put you in harms way? How bad the world was and how even talking to people, might find you robbed etc?
I write this because when I left the "truth", it was made easier by me moving 15 minutes away into a house I bought. The place is over the hill in a more "exciting" city with poorer people. I got my house just at the end of the housing crash so this was a place I could afford.
The comments my mom has made, are somewhat hilarious. They are always based on the worst scenario. And most of it is because she has lived sixty plus years of it in the "truth".
How you been shot at yet? Has anyone shot thru your windows? You must be careful at all times.
My street is very quiet. The worst that has happened is a house got burned up at the end of the street because of wiring. Recently, I am trying out Doordash to make extra money. One of the first things she said to me was "What if a naked man comes to the door?"
At work, I was regularly whispered to about how bad the world is, how events are coming to a head from the office JW. All sorts of fears about people are addressed. Being a JW makes you suspicious of all people that you haven't met. The WT does a good job of placing a space in your thinking in which all unknowns, must project fear. I know because it worked on me.
I walked around with that fear going on in my mind. All events, places, people etc. could hold unknown dangers such as physical and spiritual ones. Conversely, the WT wanted you to ignore those fears and go talk to people that you would naturally be cautious of out in service. That is what scares me now when I think of it. Who knows how many put themselves in a wrong spot trying to follow the WT?