Trying to survive

can we stop calling things cults? thanks !! it’s super insensitive to people like me who are cult survivors.

cults and cult survivors are a lot more common than people realise !! there is a 99% chance you have a friend who is a cult survivor without even knowing.

It's what helped me wake up even more than I ever did is finally getting more open with my friends. Support systems are so important when you are a pimo.

during covid, my parents found out i was queer and pimo and took away my phone; the only source of communication i had with one of my non jw friends was through fucking google docs. but you know what? they kept talking to me. no matter how weird of a way we needed to communicate, they would. for two fucking years we only talked through google docs, until i could make a discord account. and i will forever be grateful to them because they stuck with me through it all —and still do! we still have to find weird work arounds, but they still do it!!

most of my irl know at least the basics, and theyre so supportive and try to help me the best they can, and it means so much. theyll try and find ways we can hang out after school (even though we never can and i know we cant, i still appreciate how they try). they help me plan a way to sneak out for prom. they help remind me how not normal this shit is when i need that reminder. and im so thankful for then

i know my friendship is not easy, that it can be difficult, but theyre still here for me. i know i have a support system and friend who wont shun me just because a few words were said from a podium, or because i disagree with something, and its so refreshing

and my online friends too!! here i can pretend im not a jw (even though im not shy about it online, its not as glaringly obvious as it is irl, when you always on a certain level feel excluded, because you know you could never go over to a friends house like the rest of them could, or be a part of group chats and calls, and you never have been, and a part of yourself feels like youll never fully belong, because you still have the jw chains around you, no matter how much you want them gone) and its so nice and refreshing and healing

Yes! Exactly this! Cult abuse is either sensationalized or downplayed, and neither helps survivors. Those who have been victimized by extreme violence and trafficking–or even just obscure belief systems, to be real–are exploited as horror content. Other survivors; however, get their abuse whitewashed completely. None are taken seriously! 

If you’re an SA survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a CSA survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re an ECSA survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a child abuse survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a neglect survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a war survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a natural disaster survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a gun violence survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a cult survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re an organized abuse survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a torture survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a TTI survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a physical abuse survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

If you’re a mental abuse survivor, I’m proud of you for surviving.

Evil by Melanie Martinez

Mesmerizer by 32ki - while its not the original intention the lyrics and the visuals of the song does remind me of how it feels like to live in a cult. The part where teto tries to resist hypnotization just hits me hard cause thats what it feels trying to ignore the lectures

Hi Φ CLUB by NILFRUITS - the song is about a person joining a cult during a desperate time. They end up killing the cult leader and good for them tbh

Honey, I'm Home by GHOST - a song about religious abuse. I listen to this when everything SUCKS