Stephanie....? How are you??
I only saw this post in a sidebar link, missed it the first time. I see no feedback or responses from you..... Are you okay???
Everything everyone said to you is also what I want to say to you. This is hard shit. But you do have many good things going for you -- though I know it can be difficult to focus on the good, on the strengths, on the potentials and opportunities....
Maybe try looking at it this way: A lot of people move away from family and friends when they come from other countries.... they have to cope with lonliness and meeting new friends, and perhaps they have no money and can't speak with their families for long intervals...
They are "alien residents" -- (you never completely let go of the JW crap, but you can turn it around and even laugh at it some days!) -- and just like those foreigners, you too have become "an alien resident" (or a person of the nations.... ugh...)
Anyway! Whatever the context, if you are the alien resident in a "new country"/ in this "world" -- the big bold bright incredible world, filled with opportunities & adventures and unknowns -- You HAVE A DEGREE!! Praise the gods, alleluia, thank the ether: YOU HAVE A DEGREE!!!
This wonderful amazing thing means that you have many doors of opportunity open for you!
I know nothing can replace or take the place of family, but in making good choices now and making best use of any and all opportunities, you can slowly build a life and good friends and colleagues.... And maybe one day, there will come a time when the blinders peel away from your family and they will come looking for you... And you will have made yourself, and them, proud.
