If a person were to take literally all the b.s. the Governing Body says, no one would get married, have children, have health insurance, savings account, no life insurance, no house, no decent car......no life! To be a happy as a JW, you must learn the secret to ignore their unreasonable demands of your time and life.
No one will verbally admit to doing this but that's the key to survive as a JW and have the little life left in you if leaving the cult completely is not possible.
The elder you mentioned did not know this secret and instead followed the GB word as coming from god. The GB lives in a 5 star resort, have access to healthcare, housekeeping, green handshakes (non taxable), transportation, vacations and the adulation and control of over 8 million brainwashed cult followers. Yet they use guilt and fear to keep their members from enjoying life.