What stages of Healing/Recovery have you or are you going through?

diamondblue1974

To elaborate...we are all at and have been at varying stages of the healing/recovery process...what stages have you experienced...how did you deal with it and what are your plans for the future now you are on this path.

DB74

Ellie

Well, I'm not sure if you'd call them stages of recovery or healing but to begin with, up until I found this site, I still believed it to be the truth and probably thought that I'd go back to it one day, once I found JWD I started to feel guilty, even a little afraid as I wasn't sure what to expect from apostates, I did some research and read a lot and then I started to reflect on my life, my relationships with family members, all that stuff and got quite down, feeling that I was a bad person, I came through that though and now I'm starting to loose interest, it doesn't seem so important anymore.

PaulJ

Firstly I came to this site. I was cautious that it might be populated with evil apostates, foaming at the mouth, but I came here anyway. I found things not as I was warned by the dubs... so i realised other things might not be true either.

Then I read more and more, picking up little snippets of info such as the UN thing, Mexico/Malawi etc. Then it was little things I read like 'would Jesus have shunned someone?' that made me think.

I then read CoC and decided that I would never go back.

At times I get a bit angry about being duped for so long and wanting to 'get back at them'. But I know this isnt the best way. Now I want to learn more and more, I want to learn the facts, so that Im more equipped in discussing things with JW's should I ever talk to them- Im thinkng the likes of my family that are still 'in'.

seattleniceguy

When I first realized that it wasn't true, it was as if a huge burden had been lifted from my shoulders. The agony of trying desperately to believe something that you know is not true having been lifted, I experienced a euphoria that lasted for about two months.

When that subsided, I began to realize that, although the world was now my oyster, I had no idea what I wanted to do in life. I had quit my job in order to pioneer, so I had very little money. I was happy not to be believing false things anymore, but I was at a loss as to what to do next. I began to feel depressed.

About that time I discovered that the Witness descriptions of apostates were completely false. I first read Timothy Campbell's site, Beyond Jehovah's Witnesses, to my utter satisfaction. From that site, I discovered this board. This board helped me to think more clearly about a lot of things I hadn't considered before, and I met some people here that I consider good friends. At the same time, I got a job that provided me with a good income and a chance to grow in my technical knowledge, which provided professional validation and a career direction, which was invaluable in getting on the road to healthy citizenship.

About a year after I left, I met the person who would become my first real girlfriend, and I discovered that I still had some issues - mostly related to fear of commitment - that I had picked up from my experiences as a Witness. It was another 10 months or so before I could say I substantially worked through those.

Now, I feel like I'm in a pretty good place. Of course I think the Witnesses are nuts, but I'm not bothered by the experience like I used to be. From time to time I wonder what life would have been like if I had never been a Witness, but I am who I am and I'm happy with that. So I feel like I'm over it for the most part, and I'm enjoying life out here in the real world.

SNG

LittleToe

I was dazed and confused for a while. My cherished beliefs came crashing down around about me.

After a very short period I dropped it like a funeral shroud, and haven't looked back.

Sure I've built a body of beliefs, as anyone does, but few are so cherished that they can't change. Almost all are based on things I have experienced and perceived. Wherther my analysis of these will prove correct over time is another story, but I'm enjoying the process of evolution Meanwhile I've been playing catchup with my career and qualification. It's tiring, but I beleive it will be worth it.

Life is good, if you let it be

Ellie

What about you Diamondblue?

diamondblue1974

I always harboured doubts as I have always been a cynic but never enough to really test those doubts...after all you are taught to wait on Jehovah for answers to questions to which the elders cannot provide arent you? I suppose I was content to let sleeping dogs lie.

To me it wasnt such a shock to learn the truth about the truth, but, as much as that is the case, it does hit you at the very core of your being initially. I can remember feelings of insecurity as though my security blanket had just been taken away and everything in terms of structure and boundaries had been shaken to their foundations. But like with most things in life I dusted myself down and began to reinvent my belief system from new...I began to read critically...and learn more about myself and others...and to accept people for what they are as opposed to how I wouldve thought they should be.

I remember being physically free from JWism and feeling great that I didnt feel guilty about missing meetings and field service and the like...but nothing can express the feeling you have when you become mentally free...its almost like a rebirth...you approach things differently and more rationally...life becomes a journey of discovery as opposed to a life of schedule, objectives, national averages, performance etc etc.

I would suggest I am about 90% mentally free right now with just the occasional twinges of self doubt and anxiety but I have the ability to see those feelings and put them into perspective.

DB74

DannyHaszard

I have peered into the abyss and seen the evil-fraud in the name of God

Danny sez's the anguish and the agony of having to renounce the life-long convictions of my heart,the surreal sudden impact horror that everything taught to me by my own parents and my church was all a LIE.

Help today is only a mouse click away

Feel >> Deal >> HEAL

sf

Well, for me, I'd say the stage I feel I'm going through now, after doing at least six years of research, studying, reading, activism in exposing what I've discovered and uncovered about the WTBTS Book Publishing Empire and front for something not yet discovered, is like something that of what Danny Haszard said about in another thread:

There is still an elephant in my head!

Only time will truly tell, the truth. All I can continue to passionately do is what I've been doing the last six years. All while at the same time raising a teenage daughter and balancing out those two priorities.

sKally

Mulan

I was dazed and confused for a while. My cherished beliefs came crashing down around about me.

This was me too, but add to it anger and rage. I don't take being wrong very well, and I mourned a lifetime of missed opportunities for myself and for my children. That stage lasted a long time, but at the same time, I had a huge guilt release and felt like the weight of the world was gone from my shoulders.

Now, after 8 years, I am done. I haven't found a new belief system, at least as far as religion goes. The more I hear and read about religion, the more I'm convinced they are all the same, full of superstition and other nonsense.

I still believe in God, but no religion.................EVER!!!

What stages of Healing/Recovery have you or are you going through?

Share this