It's been about 3 and a half years for me (but about 15 years of extreme doubting and struggling!).  My thinking has changed soooo much since the day I walked out of the last meeting I ever went to.  Back then, I thought there were things that weren't right, and that the governing body had no right to dictate to us every aspect of our lives, but I still believed it was mostly on me.  I thought I was "going down with the shop" at the big A., and I was mostly sad but very determined. 

After reading Crisis of Conscience and In Search of Christian Freedom and Combating Cult Mind Control by Steve Hassan and mostly, mostly coming here, I am a changed person!DoadanceI feel like I have come out of a dark mine with full and completely true knowledge.  I am mad that I was duped for the first 45 years of my life, but I am proud of myself that I was able to break free despite losing so much of my former life.  We don't have a lot of friends, but we have made a few, and thankfully, we have a few friends who were witnesses but have also left.  And we have each other (me and hubby) and mostly, we have our two grown sons, who left with us.  

It's been a long, difficult process, but we have come out on the other side so very much happier.  And even on bad or sad days, they are still not as sad or bad as they were when I was "in the troooth."  And even on bad days, I am still thankful that I am leading an authentic life for the first time ever!

Valerie