Bullied into disassociating

This is a very short breakdown of what I’ve lived. I was born and raised in the Jehovah's Witnesses. I walked away at 16 when I was supposed to shun my best friend because she chose to leave the organization. I stopped attending and moved away. A year later, I moved back home and the elders eventually showed up at my door, refusing to leave. I refused to go to a “judicial committee”. They bullied me to sign my official disassociation letter.

I was then  shunned by all my family—mother, father, brother, grandparents, and more. I felt alone, isolated and wronged. It made my life very hard and I felt left with nothing except my best friend who is still my best friend to this day.

Shunning is very unloving and manipulative and breaks family apart. My teenage son doesn’t know any of his family. It’s a sad reality.