by minimus 21 Replies latest jw friends
We were always told how the demons could infiltrate our thinking so we had to avoid anything that could connect us to them. So we didn't watch Bewitched (but I Dream Of Jeannie was ok). We made sure we never said "Bless you!" after a sneeze because that was another demon connection.
We avoided 2 door cars because it was (obviously) not a good service car.
There are plenty of things that you might think of to add to the list of no-nos for Jehovah's Witnesses. Any others??
FUN.
Well, seriously, I passed up on plenty of good movies because of their rating.
College, because it was a waste of time, and the end was soooooooo close (20 years ago now)
A decent job at the time, because it would interfere with "kingdom interests" Since when does sitting in a windowless building equal kingdom interests.
The list could go on forever.
Swearing, smoking (I'm a party smoker now), sexy clothes, sex, flirting, dirty dancing & basic instinct, not wishing people a happy christmas and happy new year or birthday, dancing and theatre lessons etc etc etc etc etc
basically avoiding anything that would have made me feel normal and happier
A LIFE...
I feel bad for truly "gifted" people who couldn't pursue their desires along with their talents. I had a friend who was a star high school football player and he could've gone to ANY college that he desired but he got into the cult and he became a cleaner, milkman delivery person, Store 24 worker.
Sad.
Avoiding
Holiday wishes obviously, the Bless You/Gesundheit thing, swearing (still avoid), raising glasses (until there was some flurry explanation), betraying my partner (should avoid anyway, but the decision was stronger), smoking (which I still avoid, gratefully), decorating for holidays and fully participating. That's more or less exclusive list.
CP
I think the biggest thing I avoided was dealing with my past of childhood sexual abuse and that led to avoiding recognizing the abuse in my marriage. It almost killed me to keep it buried so long. But being a good Witness meant not bringing shame on Jehovah or his organization so I had to pretend I was okay when inside i was dying.
I held it together for many years. I was an elder's wife; mother of 2 beautiful little girls; interpreter for the deaf group; teacher of sign language to others who wanted to learn. It looked so good. No one would have guessed that I was falling apart.
I gotta go with Lady Lee..holding things in and pretending all was OK when it wasn't..so far as lying to myself even I avoided the real truths.
Amazing what you can see/hear and feel when your eyes/ears and feeling are opened.
Snoozy
Snoozy I have to agree with that lying to myself. I could pretend everything was okay for about 2-3 years and then everything would collapse. I would cut my hair off or dye it. The kids would come home from school and discover furniture still in the hallway as I was moving their bedroom across the hall. It was crazy-making - all to avoid dealing with the abuse. I couldn't fix the inside so I was busy changing my outside.
When I left I really got to work on the abuse issues. I haven't felt like I wanted to die since then and it has been 25 years now. wow I spent the previous 25 years wanting to die. wow
Meetings.
