highdose...
welcome to the board.... and congrats on your newfound freedom. It was too early in the morning the first time I seen your opening thread..I went back and read it just now...
I experienced pitfalls as a recently exited JW...a "fader" who has not attended meetings since Sept 07 or FS since Dec 06.... and is considered "inactive but good standing" (translation: I am no longer counted in their official numbers but haven't been DF...LOL)... I found the freedom refreshing but scary...
...it was as if to say: "now what?...I am free, what do I do with it?" The temptation, HD, is to go crazy. DO NOT do that. Take a step back, evaluate your situation with a new set of eyes...eyes unclouded by the constant rules and regulations of a high-control cult (JWs). See the many opportunities but don't try to jump into all of them at once. To do so would be like trying to drink from a fire hose..... yeah, water is good for you, but too much at once can drown you.
As an example, it took me nearly 3 years to learn to date properly (meaning, not the JW way). I had a few false starts dating in "the world" (ie, eHarmony) but it gave me un-JW experiences with the opposite sex...how to go on a date, how to have a conversation about non-JW topics, etc. I feel bad for the first couple of gals that I went on lunch dates with. lol. Thankfully, neither worked out. When I finally met the great woman I am with now, I was better prepared. Not completely prepared, but better. (as a humorous side note, my GF and I have never been on a formal night time dinner date..and she wants to go, as do I...we just never had the opportunity........so we are prepping for that ..even though we are waaay beyond the formal dating and into the serious relationship stage already.)
Another pitfall....do not be discouraged if you mentally start to backslide a little into JW thinking....it happens. Around this board, we often refer to the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses as "The Borg" (from Star Trek fame)..and individuals within it as members of the collective that have been assimilated..... in the Star Trek world, if you are one of the lucky few who escape the collective, (i,e. character Seven of Nine, a human who had been assimilated as a child and rescued as an adult), you will still have tendrils of the Witness thinking stuck in your head. Give it time. It starts to go away after awhile.... after nearly 3 years, I still have some remnants of the JW mindset that I am trying to clear from my brain.
Highdose, I close with something I wrote on this board a few weeks ago about my GF and I....and it applies to equally to you:
[You] have an interesting journey ahead. The journey is where life is lived. It is time to live.
Snakes ()
PM me if you have questions on leaving..I am not an expert, just a fellow traveler on the road with you.
