HIDDLESWIFE:
You are certainly right about the meetings being a source of anxiety - because of the attitudes of the people there. You were being sized up for whatever reason: how you looked, how you dressed, etc.
I didn’t realize how true this was until I stopped going. When I began my ‘Fade’ and stayed home on meeting nights, I soon rediscovered the peace I had many years before I came into the JW religion. What a wonderful feeling it was. I realize what happened was a gradual process that people got used to without realizing what was happening!.. But, this is all in the past and I am wiser to this and I’m sure other people feel similarly!
Never again!