I am one of these damaged ones. My mom has been out of town visiting my aunt this past week, and it's allowed me the privacy to be able to do my research. This is the first time I've come to these realizations and been honest with myself. But at the same, I can't accept this new reality. It's so earth-shattering, as if my previous existence never was, as if someone just pulled the carpet out from under my feet. I feel like I'm drowning.
And I'm seriously contemplating suicide. If I'm going to die in 50 or 60 years anyway, and there's no life after that, then what difference does it make if I die now or 50 years from now? I can't imagine a life without my mother. And I can't tell her all that I know, because if she heard it all, even she might be "stumbled" - aka - leave the org. But then she would have no comfort, no hope. I think I'm better off leaving her to her delusion. This is the first time I've truly understood the old cliche that "ignorance is bliss". Her life has been a series of tragedies, and if she knew that this was all there was, she might very well lose her sanity.
But on the other hand, if I don't tell her why I left, she'll just think it was because I wanted to go off "into the world" and have fun and have sex for the "temporary enjoyment of sin". And she'll never know the real reasons why. That will cheapen her idea of me. She'll think me traitorous, weak, cowardly, and debased. And she'll abide by the disfellowshipping doctrine and refuse to speak with me.
I have two mid-terms tomorrow that I was supposed to spend the last 5 days studying for, and I haven't even cracked the books open, because I've been on this forum and online researching night and day. I haven't slept in 36 hours, and I feel such inner pain and anguish, and yet oddly I haven't shed a tear.
I'm giving serious thought to suicide. This isn't a cry for attention. I doubt I'll really go through with it, but it seems like a very viable option right now. I'm broken. I'm afraid.