Dylan Derish

I was born and raised in the organization, and I sought to be the best witness you could be. Getting baptized at 14, giving assembly parts, and thinking about serving at Bethel/where the need is great… I could say that Jehovah loved me, and believe it! I was ultimately and finally loved. This slowly started to fade away as I recognized the subtle manipulations (on a gut level) that the org used to keep us “happy”. Eternal Damnation. Fear of Isolation. Shame and Guilt. Group Pressure. These started to slowly give me a reason to choose the life I live now. This world is uncertain, overwhelming, and even lonely at times. It is extremely tempting to go back to just ‘following the rules and have life be so simple’. But even when I attempted that, it was shortly lived. The disenchantment has already been done. Now I spend a great deal of my free time learning about other worldviews, and through that I find a comfort in this world. You can be worldly and guess what…NOTHING HAPPENS. It’s not so terrible. But it wasn’t always that way… and because of that I’m here for anyone in their leaving process. I now support people who are leaving or have left high-control religious groups, with a particular focus on Jehovah’s Witnesses.