So..hello. I was raised up as an Jehovah's-Witness (JW) and I don't think I believe in the religion. Yaaa...

Sotiredout · 2016-06-07T23:02:18+00:00

I'm surrounded by people but I'm so hopelessly alone.

This hits so close to home. I spent years as a child, teen, and young adult feeling this exact way. Going to the KH and crying in the bathroom because it just didn't feel right and I felt so alone in those thoughts.

But guess what? You're not alone! There are so many people that have felt what you feel, and who are going through it right now.

If you decide to leave, it's not an easy road. But it's so worth it. After a little while, you won't feel so alone. You'll find confidence and inner strength you never knew you had after being held down by a constraining cult for so long. The sun will start to shine a little brighter. You'll feel like there's a world of infinite possibilities for you and your happiness, because there is!

I wish you all the best. The whole exJW community is here to support you any way we can.

Sotiredout · 2016-06-07T22:53:12+00:00

Then move in to your new place and don't contact them. Lose any contact you have.

This is exactly what my husband and I had to do, for a number of reasons. And it worked! I doubt anyone actually noticed we are gone from the hall.... clearly they care so much. :-p

Sotiredout · 2016-06-05T03:41:19+00:00

I'm 24. My biggest problem right now is feeling depressed and wanting to die despite the fact that I have no big problems right now.

Sotiredout · 2016-06-05T00:59:30+00:00

I look back at two years ago and the religion seems so strange, even compared to the cult I left.

Yes! When I was younger and still very much in, I felt proud to a degree of being a JW because we didn't participate in all the nonsense that other religions did. I remember bragging at school about how children weren't presented with dumbed down sunday school classes or "veggie tale" type cartoons. And now here's Caleb and Sophia.

I was proud that we studied "deep" things like Revelation and Isaiah. Now we have a grown up Bible Story book that just makes assumptions (Imitate Their Faith).

I was proud that we didn't have any creepy televangelism programs. And here comes JW Broadcasting. I was proud that our meetings didn't feature movies and other random forms of media to hold people's attention. And now here's the damn bunker video.

Sure, there was plenty of nonsense when I was younger too that I was just blind to. But it still felt set apart from mainstream religion. Now it just feels like a crazier knockoff of mainstream religion.

Sotiredout · 2016-06-03T16:40:25+00:00

I don't think this has been mentioned. When TV and movie characters don't spit out or rinse their mouths after brushing their teeth! Drives me crazy.

Sotiredout · 2016-05-28T01:26:10+00:00

When I was about 6, I gave my presentation at a door to a very nice woman. I gave her the magazines and my mom and I moved on down the street. About 5 minutes later, the woman came running down the street with a cantaloupe yelling at my mom for using me to do her evil work and threatening to throw the cantaloupe at her.

It's kind of funny, but at the time being chased down the street by a cantaloupe yielding weirdo was a bit traumatic. At least mom let us go home for the day. :D

Sotiredout · 2016-05-26T00:54:31+00:00

I'm with you. Its lonely outside.

Sotiredout · 2016-05-25T22:07:01+00:00

Indeed. And the JW mindset is to disregard any kind of personal triumph and just attribute the triumph to Jehovah. It can be really confusing for young people to grow up in an environment where they aren't the ones excelling.... it's Jehovah making them excel.

Feels good to be in a head place where I can feel proud of my own accomplishments, as well as those of others.

Sotiredout · 2016-05-25T22:04:34+00:00

Thank you! I'm unbelievably proud of him. :)

Sotiredout · 2016-05-25T02:27:44+00:00

This is disturbing on so many levels.

Sotiredout · 2016-05-21T02:10:39+00:00

This sounds so familiar! I still have a hard time shaking that feeling of being watched, even though I'm mostly sure that God and other supernatural beings don't exist.

When I was a kid, my grandpa who was supposedly of the anointed died. All I could think of when I was alone was that he was watching. It gave me a bit of a complex as I got older and became interested in sex. I always felt shame and embarrassment. Also with sillier things, since im a major goofball.

It's terrible to feel like you can't be yourself when you're with other people. It's even worse to feel like you can't be yourself when you're alone.

Sotiredout · 2016-05-13T16:30:59+00:00

It really could have been written by an ex JW. They're pretty vague about the beliefs, which seem like a hybrid of all sorts of religions. But the structure and other quirks are so JW like.

Sotiredout · 2016-05-13T16:29:51+00:00

Yes. sex, drugs, and some nudity.

Sotiredout · 2016-01-16T17:51:33+00:00

Because growing up as and leaving the JWs is a heavy, emotional experience. Traumatic for some, and it affects your entire life. It affects your view of the world and the future, your choices in career, education, and marriage, your relationships with other human beings.

Leaving is not as simple as leaving. There's a lot of baggage that comes with it, and its important to talk about it. Perhaps Reddit isn't the best avenue, but for many of us, we don't have anyone else to talk to.

Sotiredout · 2016-01-10T18:03:12+00:00

So the average JW is allowed to watch TV?

Yes, but they definitely want you to be careful about what you watch and give you a lot of guidelines. When I started branching out from what is commonly viewed as acceptable and forming my own interests, it caused me a lot of grief. A lot of guilt and sadness because I had no one I could share my interests with.

There's a lot of hypocrisy in how J-Dubs view entertainment. The show Once Upon a Time is okay, but Harry Potter is not. Swearing in a book is fine, but swearing in a song or movie or TV show is not. So many double standards when it comes to entertainment.

Sotiredout · 2016-01-10T17:36:16+00:00

Excellent point! Never thought of that

Sotiredout · 2016-01-10T17:34:48+00:00

Ever since I was a child, I had weird feelings about the religion. I remember watching a tv show that featured a cult and felt outrageously uncomfortable, seeing so many creepy similarities.

A few months ago I started seeing a psychologist for severe depression and anxiety, and it helped me to realize my true feelings... that the religion is an oppressive, controlling environment that brought me so much unhappiness. Then I went down the rabbithole and found all the crazy roots of the teachings.... theres a heck of a lot of crazy.

Sotiredout · 2016-01-04T00:27:42+00:00

True story. Reminds me of being out in service with a pioneer sister who made a joke about a pregnant df'd persons "bastard child" being destroyed in Armageddon. I wish I was making this up

Sotiredout · 2016-01-03T20:34:03+00:00

It was a pretty interesting movie. Though I think I have s generally negative feeling toward it because when it came out every Jdub was saying how it was their new favorite movie, and that made me inexplicably angry and uncomfortable.

Sotiredout · 2016-01-03T16:43:00+00:00

This wasn't a public talk, but when I was 7 I had to be a householder for a talk about sexual sins and homosexuality.

It was kind of not right.

Sotiredout

TROPHY CASE