When I first left the Witnesses, I had some times of being really pissed at all the wasted time and the way the people acted. I remember one time, my spouse and I decided to just get ripped. We did and as we did, we laughed and even cried at times over the issues. Later we threw up more then I would care to do again, as we were not drinkers before leaving and apparently we would not be after. The next day I felt like such crap, even had to call in sick to work that Monday and we were drinking that Saturday. It seemed at the time, like a great way to forget and deal with the problems. In the end, bad choice! I had been drunk before being a Witness and even one time or two while a Witnesses, but this night was way past that. Since then, we never did that again. Of course, we have nothing against alcohol and drink with friends, or social events, I enjoy good quality beer and have made home made wine from time to time. We just decided, drinking to forget problems = bad idea. As you get started in that emotional vein and go way to far. Well, at least we did and perhaps others had a night like that after their exit too. Are we alone in doing this though, or did others try this once or twice too?
Did you drink to get over being a Witness?
by free2beme 30 Replies latest jw friends
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ringo5
I think many drink heavily because they're witnesses. About 99% of the witnesses I knew were not adverse to alcohol, and maybe 50-75% were heavy drinkers.
It seems this is the only vice allowed openly and many probably indulge just to feel something else besides guilt.
Now that I'm out, I actually drink less than I did as an active drinkin' dub... -
Low-Key Lysmith
Shit, I'm drunk right now.
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tetrapod.sapien
Shit, I'm drunk right now.
LOL! that's the stuff man! free2beme, i am amazed that your first posts in your threads are always about the same length. cool! um, i have always drank, so i can't say that i drank to get over the WTS, though i am sure it helped. i mostly read. although, one time i did get really drunk, back when i was first doing all my research, one windy and rainy night up on top of this bald little mountain close to where i live. i still belived in joe hoba, and was super pissed at him, and i screamed obscenties at him, and pleaded with him to kill me, and i cried, and i threw up. adn that was it. just the lonliness of the wind and the rain. it was a real Moses moment for me, without the burning bush or the God..... but that was more helping me get over Him, and not so much the WTS. i think that was the night it all started to get better for me. TS
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jambon
yes, heavily until 2 days ago. i know a lot who do in the org, elders too.
i look back now and see how my sneaking about with whisky bottles degraded me.
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blondie
I learned growing up in an alcoholic family that overdrinking does not solve a problem only adds to it. I found that the counseling I had to deal with my sexual abuse and the alcoholism in my family worked very well helping me deal with any difficulties when I stopped attending and left behind WT doctrine as well as my JW family.
Blondie
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Van Gogh
My dad had been a prominent PO in the early seventies. For no apparent reason he completely went off the rails just after 1975. Unemployed and all, he started drinking heavily and violently on and off for some years. He was disfellowshipped for it twice. After my mom killed herself because of it, he was left no option but to finish the job by drinking himself to death.
He managed to stay alive until '75... -
ferret
I was a heavy "social drinker) as a JW but when I left I hit the bottle quite heavy, and also started smoking mostly cigars. I did this for about five years until my mind was free of all dub
propaganda. Then I realized how futile this was and quit in 1986 and have never had a drink since.
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sixsixsixtynine
did others try this once or twice too?
LOL! Uh, yeah. I might have done that "once or twice".
I drank a lot while I was a Witness, and even more afterwards, for a few years.
Most of the other exjw's I know, have done the same.
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forsharry
Well, I drank to get over a lot of things really. It helped with the depression in that I got so wasted most nights that I couldn't think straight let alone be depressed. It also helped that I found a functioning alcoholic for a friend and we would drink together. I got over a lot of things with that.