Being a Dub did teach me to have EXCELLENT self-control - I've never had a drop to drink in my entire life...I doubt that if I ever get married (?) I will even drink then...it's just not something I'm prepared to do! None of my friends can understand it. But I have other reasons for not drinking too, such as the fact that all 3 generations of men leading up to yours truly were (and some still are) hardcore alcoholics, so I reckon I'm not gonna take that particular risk.
I also don't use substances - sure I've experimented a few times (don't we all!) but that's about it. Once again, I have solid reasons (unlike the WTBTS, which is basically just a body of beliefs founded on a book of fairytales really) for not using drugs like X and Cat...I see what they're doing to my friends, and I don't wanna be in that boat, thx.
Sitting in meetings for a large fraction of my life has also given me the ability to sleep with my eyes open (this was immensely handy in high school )!
Like a lot of people on this board I've lost a large part of my life and many experiences I could have had to the WTBTS, and this is something that I cannot change, so I don't mull over it and blame anybody. My parents honestly thought they were helping their kids by becoming Dubs - this I know for a fact, and I love them because of it. Little did they know how much damage they would do in the coming years, and that the Dub religion would be the acid that would melt the ties that bind in my family. Oh well, that's all water under the bridge, no point whining about spilt milk. I try to live each day like it's my last, and it works - I've come a long way from that desolate place when I left the BOrganization in 1999.
I did it without God, and also probably more importantly, without Satan.
Now I'm my own man - I make the decisions, not a bunch of old Do0dZ in Borglyn. I'm allowed to use my mind again, and I realize that looking back on all that time in the BOrg, that was the one thing that was denied of me, and the only thing that allowed me to escape.
The earlier in the forenoon you take the sun bath, the greater will be the beneficial effect, because you get more of the ultra-violet rays, which are healing. - The Golden Age