1st Year not attending RC

BeautifulMind

I feel relieved to spend that time doing anything else but sitting in a stadium for 8 hours with only an hour break listening to the same talks I've been hearing since I was a child. Not to mention trying to keep my young boys quiet so I wouldnt get the evil looks in my section😂😂. Lot of walking was going on for us to try and tire them out. When that didn't work we ended up either sitting outside eating snacks or leaving early. Anyway, anyone else's first year? If not, how was your first year not attending?

dubstepped

Congratulations! That relief you feel is from doing something that isn't cult driven and avoidance of something that you know in your heart isn't your thing.

Our first miss was also our last attended. We went to day one of the international convention in Indianapolis. We had a hotel nearby and left in time to arrive at Friday's session around 8:30, but there was massive traffic that day and it took so long to go a few miles that we were actually LATE. The traffic was the worst I've ever been in. Then we had to park in a JW approved lot, most being a looooong distance from the stadium because they're controlling morons. After walking that looooong distance in dress shoes and clothes we entered the cavernous stadium they have and walked up seemingly endless ramps and hallways to try and find a seat and ended up in the nosebleeds.

The day started off rough and got worse from there. There is no more alone feeling in the world than being in a building with 40,000 of your supposedly closest "friends" and knowing that nobody really gives any care to whether you're there or not. We sat alone, as per usual, watching the program. About 3/4 of the way through the day we were done. My wife was in tears because she had prayed for some reason, ANY reason, to be there. We were trying to hard to be good dubs and finding nothing for us. I was pissed off because I just watched a member of the GB give a talk where he was talking money, something he clearly knows nothing about, and just making up numbers that didn't make one iota of sense to justify leaving a good paying job to pioneer. Somehow in his example the brother made up enough money in tax savings that he actually brought home more money by leaving his six figure job to work part time, which is simply a lie. I had just got through 18 months of hell in paying off back taxes myself because I listened to the poor financial advice from other JW's and the organization for years and made my own bad decisions. So I wanted to throttle that guy for his talk.

We walked out early, made the trek allllllll the way back to our car, beat the traffic out, went to the hotel and packed up, and left, never to attend another JW anything again. No meetings, no second or third day of the convention, nothing. The ride back home for a couple of ours was magic. We both felt such a relief and knew then that we were done. My wife said in the car that she didn't ever want to go back to anything JW. I agreed on a level, though still fought with it internally, though I too felt immense relief. I couldn't believe how good I felt doing the "wrong" thing in JW's eyes.

So good for you! You're making a huge step toward a life where you don't have to feel that pressure ever again if you don't want. It is so freeing!

freddo

I think my first year will be next year - as in at least some of 2017. I'm just being "bad" this year by going to a different one than the one I'm supposedly assigned. That way I figure I can have a weekend off when my congregation goes to the assigned "proper one" and we will have no meetings at our KH. Also I get the midweek meeting off before that one as well.

A small victory bearing in mind that I have never missed before.

BeautifulMind

Then we had to park in a JW approved lot, most being a looooong distance from the stadium because they're controlling morons.

That controlling morons part reminded me of something I totally forgot! So it was Sunday of the convention last year and my in laws happened to be assigned to the same one as us. They got there and called and said they saved us seats, great. We ALWAYS sit together on the top of the elderly section with her when we have he same convention, never a problem. As we are walking up we get a text from her saying that the brothers made her give the seats up. And I'm like huh? What do you mean? She said, well he said I had to do it, so I had to follow the arrangement. WTH?? Who are they, the seat police??wow....she didn't even fight them on it! Like, why didn't she tell them that her son and daughter-in-law and their two TODDLERS were on their way up and we were sitting there?? The program hadn't even started and we were headed to the seats!! 😡😡Anyway, we proceeded to walk around for an entire hour looking for seats. You know how had it is to get seats on Sundays. And during that time, guess what we saw?? Yup, we saw so many people saving seats. The program has been going n for over 45 minutes and we all know that after the program starts you're supposed to give up those seats. We asked the brother to ask them to move their things so we could sit down. The idiots didn't have an answer for that though, just said they couldn't do that. So heated 😡😡 I can't believe we did not just go home right then and there. We did end up leaving soon after lunch.

EyesOpenHeartBroken

Good for you, Beautiful! I'm so jealous.

I am dreading it. Hoping this will be our last. Last year we split it up and missed one morning, and it still felt oppressive. Even when I was a true JW believer, conventions were tough. We have never lived close by the site, so always expensive or a lot of travel time. And being introverted, the crowdedness was overwhelming. Growing up we attended an arena that actually had comfortable padded theater seating. But as time has gone on, the convention venues have been really uncomfortable and old, dirty places. I wonder if WT has burned bridges with the nicer venues or the just don't want to shell out the cash for something more comfortable.

Freeandclear

I remember my last "convention" or whatever they call them nowadays. It was a one day thing, Circuit assembly??? Anyway, I hadn't been going for a good while due to guilt and just living my life, decided to get back in da troof and went. It was good for a bit, then I was falling asleep. Got up walked around, no one but my closest friends was talking to me because of my past I assume....marked? I had bought a new suit and shirt and felt uncomfortable as hell...you know how it is..... When the end finally came I was so happy. Went out to dinner with some friends afterwards (the best part of these days right?) After that I got DF'd and to be honest, it was the best thing that could have happened to me because once DF'd I felt free to really start doing some research and what I found freed me from the slavery to the WTS. Thank you JWfacts.com

Now when it's a Sunday like today I love the freedom of it. When I drive by the old Hall I just think to myself how glad I am not to be a part of it anymore. Yes I miss my friends but the relief of not having to go and feel guilty and no longer to follow all the silly rules (hey, I look so much better with a beard anyway! who knew?) is just incredible.

Powermetal4ever

It's a relief beyond compare

eewx2

I remember the first year we were out. It was 5 years ago. No getting up early no long drive no rude mean people to deal with. We felt so free. My kids were 7 and 4 when we left so no dirty looks anymore for them simply being kids.

The last thing we ever went to was a Circuit Assembly. Everyone was so rude and mean and cruel. We were on the edge at that point. Six weeks after that assembly we disassociated. Even my parents had snubbed us at that assembly so we said good riddance.

OOPS sorry to get off on my own story. But Congratulations to you and ENJOY!!!!!!

keyser soze

Congratulations! It will be my 11th straight year. I can't tell you how liberating it is to not have to plan for it every year. Not to mention not having to deal with the prospect of actually sitting through it for 3 straight days.

Iown Mylife

A few months before the district convention i had fallen and hurt both my knees. By the time summer arrived I was walking okay but not good enough to go up and downstairs. So on Friday morning my husband and I got to the Gwinnett Civic Center in Duluth, GA, in plenty of time to walk in and find seats.

There were NO SEATS. We saw our granddaughter and her father, and asked him if he had saved seats for us, as he had said the night before that he would do. "Uh, no...I only got seats for the two of us." So we gave them our packed lunch and left.

The next morning I went by myself, as my husband had to go to work all day. I walked in, tried to get help from an attendant, he told me to wait there and he would try to find a seat and come back for me. I waited 30 minutes, never saw him again. The place was crowded to the max. I couldn't get near the elevator. As I was walking back to my car i ran into an elder and his wife, from my cong. They asked me where I was going. I said, HOME - my knees hurt, no one can help me, and I'm pretty sure I don't belong here.

They said, Oh okay, see you later!

That was my last time. I went to a few more regular meetings but nothing got any better. I'm so happy to be out of that mess.

Marina

1st Year not attending RC

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