Hi Gill,
I wasn't brought up as a jw, I entered the wts at the age of 21. I can see how hard it would be for those brought up with it to escape, for most of your life you knew nothing else.
Trev had been out almost 6 years when I started to visit him discreetly, and knew just what to do and say, what information to show me, what websites to click on, to help me to escape. He always prepared very well for his assignments as a jw, and thankfully, he prepares just as well now. He got me to sign up here when he knew I was on the verge of leaving, and knowing that there was somewhere else to go, with like-minded people, was the final push I needed to leave the wts behind. Then he got to work on freeing me from wts influence, and he's done a great job there as well. I know I'm luckier than most to have had someone like that to help, as well as having had a life before the jws.
Trev used to quote a couple of things to me when I was first exiting. In fact he has the quotes framed and hung on his wall. One is by Antoine de St. Exuplery, and says "I know but one freedom, and that is freedom of the mind". He used to say to me that when I had that freedom, I would be truly free of the wts. I feel that am very close to having it now.
The other quote is from T.S. Eliot, his favourite poet: "Liberty is a differrent kind of pain from prison" He used that to show me that leaving the wts may be a painful process, but ultimately worthwhile.
Those quotes meant a lot to me when I was first leaving the wts, and still do, so I thought I'd share them.
Linda