Many who have become disillusioned by some particular recent WT offence, separate from the church physically but retain the indoctrination the WT installed in their brains. A familiar trope is often used,
"Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!"
Implying that the interpretative belief system that identifies the church might be worth holding even if the people that created it are unworthy of allegiance. In fact, I have concluded after 22 years on this forum that this might be the default position for a majority of those leaving. Maybe it's natural. Maybe it's rationally defensible given the situation. Maybe it's just an understandable first step in a longer process.
A lot seems to depend on the whys and hows of a person's exit. Someone who suddenly finds themselves outside the church against their will, is surely more likely to cling to the past than someone who leaves tired of intellectual dissonance. Be that as it may, people leave for many reasons, the question now is:
"How much was bathwater?"
I'll ask this. Can a person really say they left the control of the WT if they presume most of what they said was accurate? For groups like the JWs, control is not necessarily physical, but intellectual and emotional. Therefore, the control might be a lifelong sentence if a person never challenges every aspect of the indoctrination they experienced.
Questions such as, "How do I measure my worth?, How do I measure the worth of others? How do I live a purposeful life?" These require a fresh examination. In the church, the answers were simple, obedience to the church.
The answers to other pragmatic questions such as: "Do I believe the future is a potential or a predetermined outcome?", will have great effect on your choices. An exiting JW's answer to that question is likely determined by their conclusions about the Bible or other forms of soothsaying.
Bathwater can be mirky and difficult to peer through. We might be trepid about dumping it. Perhaps the wise course is to pour off the water little at a time. If we get to the bottom and find it was bathwater all the way, we have lost nothing but an imaginary baby.
Real "babies" (causes, and people) can now have our much-needed attention.