Nice thread STILL TADD . Very good points you bring out there. Important, thanks for posting this. After almost 14 years being out myself and having been raised earlier in my life by a strict staunch elder dad who never complimented me or ever told me he loved me - I still occasionally struggle with the lack of self esteem somewhat- but my self esteem has gotten much stronger these past several years. I've actually stood up to my older JW family when I saw certain injustices being committed towards my JW mom when she was still alive.
For anybody here who recently exited out of the Jehovah's Witness cult- don't give up. In time you will find your authentic personality again that was buried by your JW personality. Be patient with yourself- it takes time and we need to be kind to ourselves because we were never shown true objective kindness inside the WT organization- there were always " conditions " on how much kindness was shown to us. The more we as EX-JW's educate ourself and read books that restore our self esteem, like books from Steve Hassan about how mind control works, psychology books, other self help books- we will eventually win this psychological war within ourselves- but it takes time, just have to keep on keeping on. Thanks my friend for posting this thread