I am also a relative new-comer to this site and am completely gob-smacked at the comments I am reading!! It's like a Eureka moment!! So, so many of you are voicing the things that have been going on in my head all my life!!
Liftsong, you have made several points in just this one thread that have struck a chord with me! Self-esteem, not listening to one's own instinct, feeling of belonging, seeking counselling, getting out of the organisation BECAUSE of one's children to name just a few. I am 44 and left in 2000. Life is still a struggle in many ways, but I have incredibly supportive friends who are moral, loyal, genuine people - something I actually believed at one time was not possible outside the organisation!! They are patient and kind about my funny fears and phobias that I believe are a hangover from my life as a Witness and I don't know what I would do without them. It is, however, a bonus to now be able to talk to people who so obviously completely 'get it' because you have 'been there'.
As they say: 'onward and upward'!!!