Shalom, All!

There are MANY exes posting here now who have pretty recently blown from the pressurized Int Base along with others who have been out longer, but were on staff or in the Sea Org who have have a little longer to decompress.

Thinking about Jeff's recent posts has got my cogs to twirling and my sockets to poppin'!

I kind of imagine leaving $cientology as a high level staff member is kind of like leaving a Turkish prison. You just left hell and now you are in the full glare of the wog sunlight.

How do you handle this? What was YOUR decompression, return to woggy life, like?

What has helped you heal...relax back into a wog routine? What brings you the greatest joy? What are your pastimes and hobbies?

Do you find yourself fighting workaholic tendencies? Can you let go and enjoy the process of work or play?

I'm not asking for ANY specifics that would ID you or your location to the "c" (spit) o' $. I'm just interested in HOW your rehabilitation to a wog life has occurred.

Thanks for reading and thanks, as always for sharing and for your AMAZING generosity of spirit! I have learned SO MUCH that is good and great about the human mind and spirit by reading this board. I am grateful!

Regards to you,

Natty

Good question, NattyP! I'll dive right in.

I was tossed out in 1983. Pregnant with my second child.

I'm reading that book titled Take Back Your Life. Some of it's a little late, but some of it is still about what's banging around in my head. Highly recommend it.

One thing the book recommends, that I did, was watch TV and read newspapers. Man, a whole world kept chugging along while I was kept locked up! I especially didn't know any of the primetime TV shows, and when I went back to school, that's the sort of stuff people would hang around and chat about. I felt like I'd just descended from a UFO!

But what struck me about your post, NattyP, was the question about struggling with "workaholic tendencies." Yes yes and yes!! I STILL feel guilty about taking a day off. I still feel like the world depends on me making my deadlines. As I get older, it's wearing off a little bit, but it's still pretty much there. When I had some people I managed, I really had to watch myself because even then I had a dim awareness that I was just a teensy bit pathological about being "dedicated" to a cause.

What do I still enjoy? Doing nothing! The small slices of time off had to be so packed with personal errands and stuff, that I never could just plop down and just be. I also enjoyed having time to spend with my daughters as they grew up, being able just to hang out at the park with them and not fret over "stats."

But the absolute best thing that I can do now that I couldn't do for my eight years on staff was <drum roll> reject other viewpoints and speak my mind!!! Aaaahhhh... the right to call it as I see it! THAT is heaven!

What a world of freedom it is!

The workaholic part: Hubby and I are STILL workaholics....have never had our own vacation since we left....(over 13 yrs from Staff, 4 yrs in heart/mind,etc.)...so am trying to slowly get hubby and I to plan our first vaca......

Aside from that: we enjoy reading books that help us heal..(A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle is REALLY REALLY good) and other authors. (heehee, it feels sooooo good to be 'Type H'ey'!!;) )

We enjoy watching movies, amassing a DVD collection, listening and dancing to music,writing, surfing the Net, drinking once in a while,(another forbidden/rare thing), socializing with friends that are very supportive of us. Etc.

'Getting a life' has been slow going in social ways for us, and we're still adjusting....that 'holier than tho' thing lodges deep!

Wisened One