Being manipulated and coerced into living a life ruled by fear and devoid of the full range of human experience means there are essential life skills that JWs simply never learn. Previous posts have covered how the JW organisation controls its members and the harmful impacts this can have. In this post, we are…
This is a question we all likely heard the Elders address from the platform from time to time. It is also clearly a topic the organisation feels strongly about, because they have chosen to include it in the FAQs on the JW.org website. Do they really answer the question though? Or does their own…
Whether you see work as a job, a career, or a calling (as covered in Part 4), no one is ever truly happy doing work that they don’t like, or just isn’t the right fit for their skills and interests. In the final article of this ‘Finding your passion’ series, we are going to…
In Part 3 we pulled apart the various JW views of work and how these may have affected us, but now we are going to focus on identifying your own values about work and what you want from it in your post-JW life. Like pretty much everything in our lives after leaving the religion,…
Work. Some of us love it and some of us hate it, but either way, we all spend a lot of time doing it. While it’s normal to have the odd bad day at work, no one enjoys doing work they genuinely dislike, day, after day, after day. As JWs, our work simply HAD…
Developing interests and hobbies can really improve the quality of our lives after leaving the JWs. There is so much literature and even medical science which shows that hobbies can bring so many benefits, from stress reduction and increased life satisfaction, right through to improving cognitive function and heart health.[1] While we may recognise…
If you struggle to feel passionate about anything and look at people who do with a slightly green tinge on your face, don’t worry too much. You are not alone. This is something many people struggle with, and not just former JWs! However, former JWs do face a unique set of circumstances that…
This post explores how the meaning of death is distorted in Jehovah’s Witness teachings and culture, and three ways that rethinking everything we formerly believed about death can help us learn to be truly alive. Reassessing JW beliefs about death Many of us struggle to figure out what we want after leaving the Witnesses….
Self-help, Life coaching, Counsellors, Therapists, Psychologists, and Psychiatrists: What’s the difference?! What do I need? This post is about the many different ‘helping’ options out there to help you find the one that is right for you. As JWs we were never encouraged to seek any form of mental health treatment outside of the…
This post is all about learning to be happy after leaving the Witnesses. We explore happiness, contentment, and satisfaction, and what these concepts mean when the JW distortions have been stripped away. Despite everything you were told as a JW, your own personal happiness is actually extremely important. Feeling happy is important, pursuing what…