HAVE you CHANGED???

minimus

After reading so many comments about our collective personalities, I wonder how we were percieved by the congregation in general. Some of us on the board seem to be shy, others appear to be stronger type personalities.Some stories that I have read, suggest that when you left the organization, either nobody was surprised or everyone was shocked. Do you think that you are basically the same type of person , now, as you were when you were attending meetings? Or, do you think that you have really changed? Were you viewed somewhat as a complainer or a diehard organization brother or sister, someone who NEVER questioned the "SLAVE"?

COMF

I'm vastly different. Calm, serene, secure and perceptive now compared with tense, conflicted, fearful and clueless then.

Incense_and_Peppermints

i was the biggest wimp you ever saw. never questioned, thought, or acted without a green light from someone first. "doormat" was my middle name.

now, i'm just the opposite.

but the core of my being, the person i am inside, has remained the same. i am a very sensitive, romantic person, driven to do fey things every so often. thank god they didn't take that away from me, the slimey so-and-so's.

scootergirl

I am 110% different. I too am more calm, at peace, have serenity, have contment, am more honest, have a much more sense of humor and take things in stride w/out making a crisis out of it. I also am more confident and more gentle w/myself.

LyinEyes

I am basically the same........... except I don't feel guilty for being me , anymore.

I am more open with who I am , because I am accepted for that here. I guess every since I was a little child, try as they may, no one has been able to break my spirit .

So even thou my core personality is the same, I do have more freedom to express myself now , I dont have to hide it, and that makes me happier.

MrMoe

I am with COMF -- although it is a mix of the borg and my divorce and hte rest of the BS the last 12 months or so has brought. Sense of peace now, you know? Before i was always, well, frustrated, and now, things are calm and no matter what happens, just can't really seem to get angry anymore, protective perhaps, but the anger and upset feelings, they are just GONE.

Kisses,

Moe

noidea

I have changed..some for the good and some for the bad. I am more compassionate now, a freethinker..(yeah!!!) much more independent. On the down side I think I am more selfish maybe because I'm thinking more of how I feel verses how others think I should feel. Maybe that happened because of the free thinking. It would have been much easier to have let things stay the way they were but then I would always have to be heavily sedated. <g> Yes, I have changed and the change is good. Now If I can just get some people (OK, one person) off my back and quit trying to tell me how I should feel and what I should be thinking I'd have no complaints. *damn I hate when someone begs. Until then, the only thing I know to do is let out a very loud scream...I hope the neighbors don't mind..now if you all will excuse me

SpiderMonkey

I am of the "shocked-the-bejeezus-out-of-the-cong-when-df'd" class... Was definitely a goody-2-shoes back then; since I more or less grew up in it, and went through a lot of torment while my JW mom & non-NW dad argued endlessly about how to raise the kids... When my dad "converted," I just sucked it all up, but it was against my grain. I've always felt like I was still essentially still the same person, but to what degree, I don't know - recently I met an old formerly JW friend through this board, and when we met in person, she said something to the effect that I seem much more relaxed now. That is the big change from then til now, I think; back in the day, I always felt "hunted"... I didn't know if Jehovah was going to destroy me for being a hypocrite who didn't really believe, or if someone else was somehow going to "expose" me... I always just felt on edge. Like others mentioned, I do feel much more relaxed now, at peace w/ myself. I don't feel like the universe is out to get me & beat me into the wrong mold.

minimus

I too feel more relaxed than ever before and I feel that the elders REALLY have no authority over me. I know 1st hand how holy spirit had nothing to do with most decisions made for or against a person. The truth is, outwardly there may not have been a real perceptible change, but inside, there's a feeling of peace.

sunshineToo

there's a feeling of peace

.minimus, that is so true!

At the same time I am stronger, more independent, and confident. And I am ready to help others genuinely, not just because they agree with my thought.

HAVE you CHANGED???

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