by greendawn 14 Replies latest jw friends
Left Borg, married raised four excellent well grounded offspring that are contributing to the advancement of society. Great career, fully satisfying spiritual life and social/financial experiances. One year to retirement (for the second time) looking forward to full time volunteer work with schools and service organizations. Oh, yeah, picked up a masters degree in resource management along the way..and hold six pattents, well, did, they ran out a few years ago.'
carmel
I DA'ed at 19 and immediately started college full-time, graduated cum laude and went straight to Ed. school to become a high school math teacher, which I have been doing for about 15 years. On a teacher's salary, I bought two houses (I rent one out and live in the other). Right now I am finishing my last year of law school, and will continue to teach until I get bar results (November 2006).
I have deep friendships with some really incredible people, and am in a position to really help people (I do criminal defense work for the indigent). I have a fulfilling, supportive, loving and meaningful spiritual/religious community. I am able to give my free time and my financial support to causes that are genuinely worthy.
These are all things I would not have been able to do had I stayed in the cult. The inner conflict would have been too much to bear. I shudder to think what my life would be like had I not taken control of and responsibility for my life early enough to avoid some major mistakes (marrying the wrong guy, having kids with him, living a lie...) that would have greatly hindered my education, self-actualization and emotional and financial health.
I did not turn into an alcoholic or drug addict, I wasn't forced to support myself as an exotic dancer, or worse, a call girl. I didn't wind up in jail, homeless, or beaten and abused by some jerk of a boyfriend. My home and possessions (even the religious paraphernalia) are not demonized (too bad-that could be fun!).
Although it was not ever a goal of mine to be a millionaire, it looks like I will get there by my 40th birthday. Not bad for someone who was never even going to have to go to kindergarten....(er, I mean junior high, oops nope, not that, high school, oops, nope, wrong again, college....)
Shoshana (of the class who never didn't plan to go to college)
These are great success stories that make such non sense of the jw infernal propaganda against those that leave their miserable fold. No doubt the real life is to be as far away from this super toxic org as possible.
As a JW, I worked for 20 years or so doing cleaning work and carpentry.
Once I stepped down as an elder, I began to seriously persue the writing career I'd always longed for. I was by then in my 40s.
In this past decade I became a successful, fulltime, freelance writer, then was hired as an assistant editor for one of the top three of four largest weekly papers in my state. Ten months ago I became co-editor of the paper, and we recently won the 2004 New England Press Association's first prize for Niche Publications, out of some 600 entries.
At this point I have published short fiction, written an estimated 2000 news articles and features, shot and sold about the same number of photographs, including a few dozen magazine cover photos, published going on 100 magazine articles and done several public readings of my fiction writing.
For someone who wanted to be a writer from the time he was 12, I'm pretty pleased with the last decade.
S4
It would take 3 hours of reading to hear how much better my life has become in all aspects since leaving the demon cult.
