Posts by CeriseRose

20

I don't play their game any longer

by Dawn in

jw
friends

i've posted a few times about the troubles with my poor mom and the &*!

@# elders telling her she can't talk to her daughter.

being that i'm the only family she has here to take care of her.. anyways - i've kept my distance out of respect for her....that is...until a few weeks ago.

CeriseRose

I'm really glad for both you and your Mom. She will get the help she needs, she still has a daughter she can rely on, and you aren't under the thumb of hypocritical elders.

GOOD FOR YOU! :)

27

How Many JWs or ExJWs Have Some Type of Mental Problems?

by minimus in

jw
friends

do you think they are more succeptible to illness than others?

?

At one point in my congregation there were 7 people with schizophrenia.

I think JWs (or religion in general) attract those who are mentally ill because they are treated well.

My own experience and after reading the Australian study mentioned (I think I found it shortly after disassociating), I have to say that while it attracts, it also creates or exacerbates existing conditions.

I suffer from depression...have for most of my adult life. While I know that 'depression' is not a mental illness (at least not in the vein of some of the more major ones I've come across), I can state wholeheartedly that my association with JWs aggravated my ability to manage and come through the bouts quickly and uncomplicatedly.

I did seek a counsellor while a JW. While I was not told *not* to go, I was warned about allowing my counselling to interfere with my meeting attendance, with my view on Jehovah being able to solve my problems, and with my being influenced by the counsellor's 'worldly attitude.' I told a few elders I was going, but by and large, didn't tell a lot of people (My initial reason for going was breaking up with my fiance...I knew that I had never dealt properly with loss in my earlier years and that everytime I took another loss it brought up unresolved issues. A couple of years after I started my parents died and I went/am going through a period of grief added to the depression.)

I was strong enough and had the background of NOT being a JW (I wasn't raised as one) to know what I needed to do to take care of myself. How many JWs, raised or not, either have the wherewithal to get themselves help, or have support while doing it? Not many I would think.

I had tried coming off anti-depressants several times over the past few years while a JW. I'd never needed to be on them before, I had always been able to heal and managed through my episodes (of course I'd never gone through anything the magnitude of grieving both parents either). I left the JWs in January and in May went off my medication. I'm still off of it.

I think that the fact that I'm no longer a JW, no longer having my moves dictated by them, no longer feeling beholden to an organization that clearly doesn't have my best interests at heart, is what's made the difference.

edit: In re-reading I would like to clarify...depression *is* a mental illness; I was trying to show that in a lot of cases (and in my personal experience) is not always as debilitating as other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia where a person needs to be heavily medicated to function on a basic level (such as holding down a job, managing their personal affairs, etc., if they even *can* do so on medication). Depression is more and more widespread and for the most part, sufferers still maintain a fairly 'normal' life.

24

Happy (ecstatic) news, Walking on Air...

by CeriseRose in

jw
friends

i've been a bit lax in posting, life got really busy over the last while.

i've had my own business that's been gaining contracts, but not quickly enough for mortgage payments and cat food.

hehe so i took a 5 month temp job to supplement.

CeriseRose

hehe Well, we're getting married, we're not dead. Flirting is always okay (we all know our boundaries). :P

Thanks everyone!

As for details, our first 'need' is to get immigration started. We've decided on a really really small wedding, just close family. Beyond that my biggest thing is getting my apartment into 'sale' mode and get that sorted out.

Those are the tasks for when we come back to earth. hehe

Thanks again on all your good wishes! :)

P.S. I actually have typed up a letter to my sis...I may post it in the members only section with names removed...I haven't finished it nor have I decided. It's REALLY long. Stay tuned!

17

This is your subconscious speaking...

by seattleniceguy in

jw
friends

many of us have had the experience of our subconscious trying to send us messages.

sometimes we refuse to listen and it has to resort to more forceful measures, even making us physically ill. for example, while in the final throes of my witness-ism, i found that i would get horribly painful sore throats within seconds of repressing a thought about something that challenged my faith in a way i could not legitimately dispute.

it was as though my brain was saying, "you need to think about this, now," and then punishing me for refusing to do so.. i was wondering if anyone has experiences like this.

CeriseRose

I suffered from debilitating migraines for about the last 3 years as a JW. My parents had died, I was majorly stressed and grieving so I put it down to that (I'd also way overextended myself physically and figured it was just my body making me slow down).

However, even as my grief was working itself through, I still had migraine after migraine. Right up until I left the JWs...now I still get one now and then but not several a week. My body was telling me I had to deal with my feelings and treatment at the hands of JWs. I'm glad I listened!

24

Happy (ecstatic) news, Walking on Air...

by CeriseRose in

jw
friends

i've been a bit lax in posting, life got really busy over the last while.

i've had my own business that's been gaining contracts, but not quickly enough for mortgage payments and cat food.

hehe so i took a 5 month temp job to supplement.

CeriseRose

I've been a bit lax in posting, life got really busy over the last while. I've had my own business that's been gaining contracts, but not quickly enough for mortgage payments and cat food. hehe So I took a 5 month temp job to supplement. I've taken on 3 university courses so I've been running like crazy.

I celebrated my birthday about a week ago, for the first time in 14 years. Actually I've been celebrating it since May...I have no friends in the area so when I was in Mississippi with good friends we did a little thing for it. And then last weekend my boyfriend (Mr. Pookiehead on here) came to celebrate with me. We got an ice cream cake, went for a nice dinner, and then he showered me with presents!

One of them was a gorgeous diamond ring, along with a lovely question. I said YES! (then promptly burst into tears...hehe)

We have to work out the US/Cdn immigration, and all of the family except my JW sis knows (and I'm dreading telling her for her negative response, or lack of response), but we're both ecstatically happy and walking on air.

Just wanted to share our happy happy news!

31

Watchtower Opts to Make Service Meetings Even Worse

by metatron in

jw
friends

the recent august kingdom ministry contains instructions on deepening the ennui.

and sophorific potential of service meetings.

they are ordering that before the circuit.

CeriseRose

The Ministerial Training School came up a few years back. Kinda like the Pioneer school for Pioneers, it's a specialized week (or two?) of training for single brothers who (I believe) are already MSs.

I knew a couple guys that went through it...they really enjoyed it, said it was full of "spiritual food." Yeah.

13

Anyone here from British Columbia, Canada

by mbn36 in

jw
friends

.

just wondering if anyone here was from british columbia.

CeriseRose

I am! *waves hand* Lower Mainland as well.

Welcome to the board!

78

Cooking Ideas

by desib77 in

jw
friends

okay, the thread on budgeting and money made me start thinking.

the thing my husband i spend the most money on is eating out.

there is one very good reason for this, i can't cook.

CeriseRose

I splurged and spent $20 on "MasterCook" software. I bought it because I want to reduce the bzillion cookbooks I have and save just the recipes I want. The bonus there was, it has 5000 recipes included, and if you do a websearch it also has lots of links of people who have set up their recipe collections online and ready to download.

I'm starting the South Beach diet in the next couple of days. So I'm back into targeted cooking, rather than targeted cookies. hehe

17