Only the strong survive
I really think that some people are not strong enough to leave. I know my mother isn't. And it has devastated the lives of my siblings to have left and still believe it is the truth. My sister cannot even consider the possibility that she was lied to. She has been out since she was 15 years old but still believes it to be true. She has punished herself in a multitude of ways for leaving "the truth" but will not stop to think that maybe her self-punishment was for nothing.
I wonder how many "punish" themselves with depression, addictions, self-harming behaviors etc. for leaving a lying, controlling, manipulative organization like the JWs - just a thought
I think it takes a special strength to look at everything you have been taught and everything you believe in critically, and then when realizing it isn't what you were told it was, to walk away.
We walk away from our family and our friends. We walk away from our beliefs and community. We walk away from the faith we have held on to that gave us a sense of who were and made us feel special and set us apart from the rest of the world. Sometimes we leave our children behind too.
It hurts to discover we have been betrayed and lied to. It hurts to wake up and find out it is all smoke-screen. And it hurts to not be able to get others to listen.
Many of us stayed because we believed we were weak. I too felt like a weak person. I had no idea of what strength lay inside of me. People told me I was strong but I never believed it because I never felt like it.
The greatest strength I have found in myself and in others is the strength to step out into the unknown. Abuse victims think it is weak to not be able to tolerate abuse. They think they must be weak to not leave. And paradoxically they are told they are weak if they do leave. For years upon years we were told we were weak - weak spiritually, weak emotionally, weak mentally, and for some weak physically. Demand upon demand - endlessly, that we were expected to keep up with. And we were told that we were weak for not keeping up to those unrealistic expectations - part of the mind control.
Many women stay in abusive relationship because they are too afraid to step out into the unknown. Often they are told by their abuser that others will not be as good to them or loving or kind as their abuser. That sounds familiar.
Victims are often told no one else would want them. That sounds familiar too. Implanted with fears of the unknown, victims are paralyzed from action. They believe they are weak because they have been told they are weak. They believe it is safer to stay with what is familiar - they know how to handle it
And at what they feel is their weakest - when they know they cannot take what they have and live with anymore, they take that step into the unknown. Scary - terrifying - full of people and situations they know nothing of -- but they take that step.
I was DFed at the lowest point of my life. I could have gone back to what was familiar. I could have gone back to what I knew best and sat at the back of the KH and be ignored and thought I was strong for doing that and been priased for it. But since when is debasing yourself a sign of strength? To stay would have destroyed any trace of hope I had left. So I stepped out into the unknown. Not because I felt strong but because I felt and believed I was too weak to stay.
The reality was that stepping into the unknown WAS the strength.And from what I see strength lies in every one here who has been taught that they are weak.
We need to change the thinking. Black is white and white is black. Reframe the beliefs because what we were taught was all lies.
Only the strong survive.
In my darkest hours I thought I had no strength.
In my deepest pain I thought there was no hope.
But I did survive. I may still be looking for a new belief but in the meantime...
Only the strong survive.
We are surviving. Some of us are actually thriving
Edited by - Lady Lee on 15 December 2002 18:11:22