It's been a while since I was anywhere close to being active here, or on any other ex-JW forum or Facebook Group. I rarely think about the religion and have little-to-no interest in it.
However, I do, very occasionally pop in here. Hence this update, 3 years on since my last one - https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5720228449222656/update-on-my-journey-8-years-after-end-watchtower-control
Personal Life
I'm still with the wonderful woman I met in 2015. We got engaged last year, but have no immediate plans to marry as we have 5 kids between us and don't want to deal with the upheaval of finding a big enough home for all of them, plus we live in different school districts.
Her large, crazy, fun family has adopted me and my children as their own, which is a great thing to experience.
My oldest son turns 20 in January. He left the cult with his mum and me when he was 8. He's studying psychology at university now, reads deep esoteric books and has an interest in religion from an anthropological point of view. I'm overrun with pride in the man he's becoming.
My daughter was 3 when we exited, she turned 15 this month. She's studious, sarcastic, cheeky and funny. At school, she's excelling and some teachers have suggested she go to university to study social sciences then pursue a career in law. She's tall, good looking and I know I'm going to have my hands full with eager boys at some point...
My youngest son is 10 and was born about a year after we left the religion. He's never known any sort of religious indoctrination. Raising him is effortless. I never get any trouble from him. He's polite, kind and mature for his age. He's showing a real talent for art and animation and he's effortlessly cool.
Work Life
This took a bit of a hit at the start of the year, which was fairly unexpected. So, this year has been all about learning new skills and re-building my business almost from the ground up. I've spent hours learning photography and better videography and I'm making an ok living again. I've recently taken on a start-up business as a client and helped them with all of their marketing and graphic design, the latter of which I had little-to-no skills in this time last year.
I also launched a podcast which you can listen to here - https://socialexperimentpodcast.simplecast.com/ - we don't talk about religion!
JW Life
I have zero contact with JWs, apart from my elderly and infirm parents who are now in their 70s. My mum has dementia and my dad has various ailments associated with age. I see them from time to time and my dad's now very pro-active about keeping in touch with his own family - none of them are JWs - on WhatsApp, which is great to see. I think he's realising the value of true relationships rather than the conditional hollows ones the Org offers.
It's my parent's 50th wedding anniversary today. My niece - my DFd brother's daughter - has organised a surprise meal for them. I'm going with my partner, her daughter and my 3 kids. My DFd brother's going with his partner and their 3 kids. My faded second cousin will also be there.
How is that going to go, considering the Org rules on associating and eating meals with unbelievers/DFd ones?
I have no idea and I don't really care. Maybe my parents will baulk at it, maybe they won't. Maybe they'll feel bad about it later, maybe they won't. It's not any of our problem. We're there to help them celebrate 50 years of marriage, but on our terms. Otherwise, who would they have?
On another note, one of my photography clients is a local high-end barbershop. The guy who cleans the windows is a well-known local JW elder, whom I had as BSG conductor for years. I've been working in the shop a few times when he's come by to clean the windows. The first time I felt awkward and stayed out of the way. But now, I don't care. I've got nothing to feel awkward about. He does.
That's pretty much it! I'm now just over 2 years away from my 50th birthday. I'm fully aware that the majority of my life has been lived. My youth and vigour were claimed by the cult. But it is what it is. I'm determined to continue living the best possible life that I can. Raising my children to be the best possible human beings. Enjoying and learning from life's ups and downs.
What else can you do?