mellojello - all above advice is good - You don't say how long you were in
how old you, are or what made you leave. I found other people , just being
around others in some productive activity - for me it was teaching in a small
school, doing some projects, interacting in a group, could be a sports team,
or in some hobby you like, like joining a club that goes out bird watching,
anything that puts you in a social context that is cooperative and friendly.
Dating roght off is really putting pressure on yourself. Ex-JW's all have poor
social skills, I gathered this after hanging out on this forum for a while. I was so
relieved to find that out, because, I thought I was the only one. Terrible social skills.
We learned that by the "US and THEM" mentality and the pious belief we belonged
to the "sole survivors club". Climbing down off the high horse is scary. What ?
I am just like everybody else ? God loves all those other people too ?
How could that be possible ? What ? Birthdays and Christmas are the least of God's
concern ? What are they doing ? They all partake of the "emblems" ? They all
think they are one big body of Christ ? "I was hungry and you fed me " actually
means, caring for the poor and starving ? Charity is actually a good thing ?
So many strange ideas to assimilate. Its exhausting. I now have a box of
Christmas decorations, I carefully put away and can't wait to use them next
years. I have a string of tiny angels all carrying candles that I put in my window.
Education is good, of course, and in a classroom you get to hear ideas and
express yourself in writing and in speaking and you learn to argue and debate.
Emotionally, look for a group to hang with, that does fun stuff, outdoors or indoors.