A long overdue introduction.......

Jodo

Hi everyone....I've been reading posts here for about 6 months and finally decided to introduce myself !

Well I'll try to keep this short :-) .I'm 28, was born into the org and have been out since 1993. I was never baptised and as far as I know am not da'ed ( witnesses say hello, and don't try to avoid me ) . Mum became a witness in the 60's but is out now. We faded together when mum and dad had marital trouble, and I assume she wasn't df'ed because her other kids see her. She has had severe mental problems (surprise, surprise) , lots of medication, and is well at the moment. My dad was never a witness, but had no aversion to us kids being because he got the house to himself 2 nights a week and Sunday mornings. He occasionally came to the memorial to keep mum happy. I have 2 older sisters and an older brother who are all still in the org.

I was a VERY shy kid growing up, only had the odd mate in the org, and was happy to just fade into the background. I grew up never really believing any of what the org taught (or so I thought, see below), but, well, a lot of you know how it is in that situation..... Awful as it is to say, mum and dad's split happened at the right time for me as I was starting to feel the pressure of baptism, knew I didn't want to be, but didn't have a clue what to do about it. I can honestly say I don't know whether I would still be in now, and that scares me to the core. That was the kind of sorry excuse for a person I was then ( and my wife would probably say, am now :-) )

Now I am married to a beautiful woman, have an even more beautiful daughter (wife won't mind me saying that :-) ) but am having big problems with depression. I really think that up until 3 or 4 years ago I was still `in'. I read up on apostate sites around 1998 but always seemed to find myself sticking up for the org, even though I new then I would never go back.

Anyways, there's my life story to now and I hope it wasn't too long...I hope to contribute to threads from now on, and I especially wanted to say thanks to you guys for being there, the site has helped me massively.

Jodo.

SpannerintheWorks

Hey welcome, JODO!

Valis

Welcome to the forum mate!

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

confusedjw

Watch out for Valis

Jez

Welcome Jodo. I am always thrilled to read a newbie's account. One more out.......

As for the depression, I found that because I was so use to filling myself up spiritually (or so I thought) on an almost daily basis, that regardless of whether or not you bought into it 100%, it still leaves you with a huge void. Rather than leave this void, with many of us ex-JW, it HAS to be filled.

Some do it with another religion, others with their own definition of spirituality. Whatever your definition of spirituality is, you have to start a quest for it and find it. Once you do and you live according to that definition, an inner peace will start unlike anything you have ever known. It is too difficult to live life thinking that we were spiritual, and then finding out it was all a farce. Your own spirituality does not have to mean you believe in God, the bible etc. The answer is individual and inside of each of us.

I find my spiritual side now in family, mediation, reading and exercise. I love people and I am optimistic about the world scene. I continually find more and more what being spiritual means to me. It is difficult to come from being TOLD what it is and to actually listening to our inner self and matching that with how we live our life.

IMHO Jez

calamityjane

Welcome.

Glad to have you here.

cj

Brummie

xjw_b12

Welcome Jodo

I really think that up until 3 or 4 years ago I was still `in'. I read up on apostate sites around 1998 but always seemed to find myself sticking up for the org, even though I new then I would never go back.

Some of us take longer to become deprogrammed than others. Jumping on here, and joining our discussions should help.

xjw_b12 (ex-JW, be one too) My creed!