I see a lot of happier people around here. Do you feel better now that you're out? Or are you ravaged by guilt, now?
Has Depression & Anger Lessened Since You've Stopped Attending Meetings?
by minimus 25 Replies latest jw friends
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daystar
I feel much better generally. However, since I was ingrained at a very early age, I still find glorious nuggets of JW thinking deep below the surface at times. It is still very irritating and depressing at times.
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coolhandluke
Guilt seems to creep in here and there. Most of the time the general happiness regarding my energies being devoted to something worthwhile of my choosing over-encompasses any fleeting negativity. Truly, I love my life. It is what I choose it to be.
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Apostanator
Depression and Anger rear it's ugly head once in a while. However it's the Anger that's prominent at times. I get sooo pissed when thinking about the Org. and the bullshit I went through.
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luna2
I have a natural tendancy towards guilt and depression so its always lurking there in the background, but it's much, much better than when I was an active JW.
I still have a ways to go in getting rid of the unnecessary guilt and self-hatred, but at least I'm making progress now.
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lonelysheep
It's defiantely lessened a great deal. During the previous 18 months before leaving/joining here, I think I was on the way to having a full, emotional/nervous breakdown. Depression and guilt really tore me apart, on top of my life's problems.
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forsharry
Do I feel better?! I'm alive now! I'm actually living my life!
Does that mean my anger and depression has gone away? I'm getting there. I buried a lot of my feelings toward the religion and it did nothing but poison and I'm sure aided me in my downward spiral that I had been on up until recently. With the help of therapy and myself, I'm getting better...but I have never been happier than I am at this point, recently married to a wonderful "Worldly" man, getting my sh!t straight, saving for the future, heck, just thinking about the future...that in itself makes me ecstatic.
I mean, how many of you all were terrified thinking about tomorrow and the next day and the next in the organization? I was terrified. I wasn't looking forward to Armegeddon, I was living in abject terror of it. Because, of course, you never really knew if you would survive it...grace is not given, you have to work for it...so I went to bed everynight scared to death that I hadn't done enough, that I wasn't good enough. Ya'll know.
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minimus
If you're a guilty type, keeping a JW in line is easy. Once you learn to get over your guilt, you can exorcise the Watchtower demons.
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Plummet
I have been s l o w l y fading for over a year now and it has been a couple months since my last meeting (I thought only businesses had meetings, anyhow) I have noticed that I am feeling better. I still have my ups and downs, thankfully it is more ups and less downs.
Plummet
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JH
I'm not the type to get depressed, so that's fine.
Anger? Not sure, just deceived that the love I thought they had for me was genuine. It was conditional.