I thought that to be fair, I should probably list some good things that I personally got out of my 20 year JW experience:
1. I was taught that if you believe something you should live your life to reflect that; (of course, I was not perfect in this and saw a lot of hypocrsy)
2. I personally experienced acts of kindness towards my family in many times of need;
3. I was taught to respect the elderly and to develop friendships with them;
4. I was taught how to do research;
5. I learned about public speaking;
I did take several good things away from the experience, and now matter how I personally feel about doctrines and shady actions of some witnesses, I hope that all that have been entrenched in any religion has been able to carry something good from it. We can all learn something good from even the experiences that may have been overwhelming harmful to an extent.
Life is what you make it, JW or exJW.
yeah, I could list many more negative things...but why bother in this post? My invitation to all out there is to examine their experience and see what they can take out from it that was good. Not all will be able to do this, but it makes it easier for me get on with being a xJW to know that maybe I did learn something about something.