Posted by Marilyn on March 14, 1999 at 18:37:02 {MWKjrYqRskvMg}:
In Reply to: New Personality? posted by ANDY on March 14, 1999 at 10:59:21:
::::This new personality was not an improvement for me. Fortunatly I got away, but not till it did some damage to my thinking
process. Still today after over four years I seem to isolate myself from the outside world. This is
something I am trying to change.
My wife also has a problem trusting others, and socializing since she finally decided to get out.
Hi Andy, I'm afraid this is a legacy that a few of us obviously take with us from the WTS. I'm overly cautious about trusting people too. I'm also overly cautious about decision making. I hate making decisions because I have made bad choices in the past (trusting the JWs for example). It may just be your age working against your socialising techniques. I find making friends requires a lot more effort than I'm willing to put in these days. Normally people make friends over their life time almost naturally, like they collect bric a brack - but we've had a big interuption to our growth pattern and it takes a lot of effort to make new friends when you are older. The best suggestion I can make is not to worry about it. Try to enjoy people who a pleasant that you encounter on a daily basis, but don't expect too much more than that. This is how I play it anyway.
:::How can the organization change people like this, and say it is for the better? I know some great people who are still JW's. The
problem is that they have this
"new personality". I wonder what they were like before the "new personality"?
This is a real beef of mine. One of my brothers was a great guy before he became a dub. He was compassionate and caring about people - he was very popular at school etc. After becoming a dub he became hard and cold in his personality and petty minded. I was like a twin to him - I adored him, and I've hated his new personality - it's ugly and mean. The best dubs are the ones who don't change their personalities. They were always nice people and they didnt let being dubs change that. The ones that take it too seriously change for the worse in many cases.
just my thoughts
Marilyn