When I left Jehovah's Witnesses, my opinion of them was not going to change overnight. My sentiment towards them was integrated into my personality, all the way down to how I reacted to specific words, like "Christian." When I saw strangers who were Jehovah's Witnesses, I felt close to them, even though we had nothing in common. I had revulsion against blood donors. The tunes in the "Kingdom Melodies" book still had emotional power. If I was reminded of the district assemblies, I would think of traveling across the country in the car with my parents to the convention, as the early morning sun rose, wreathed in glorious clouds at the horizon, while listening to the tape dramas about the Israelites journey in the wilderness, which felt like a metaphor for our own journey; and the climatic ending speeches to the conventions when we looked forward to the new releases, almost expecting to find the date of Armageddon inside.
What I have realised is that as we move on through our lives, everything we do or try to do and everything we learn changes our memory and who we are. Years of reflecting, deconstructing our former beliefs and emotional reactions and reconciling them with our current opinions, learning about other religions and philosophies, and meeting and making friends with individuals outside the organization, slowly, subtly, but surely makes us new people. The old part of us that was Jehovah's Witness dissolves into our whole being as contradictions disappear and new memories are formed. How can we facilitate this process? I encourage everyone to post their suggestions. Taking up new hobbies? Studying new areas? What do you think?