bomb, I found your post about “What if I weren’t frum” interesting, so I thought I would give my experience with that and hopefully let PrincessEagle see another viewpoint. When I was in high school, I was suffering greatly from my family and community issues, and tried to find happiness and fulfillment in other “things”. I went through a few girlfriends (both Jewish and not), was part of a Goth scene, among other stuff. (No drugs or alcohol, though.) And while these offered me temporary relief from my issues, and some experience with responsibilities, they didn’t really help with anything important. What DID help was trying to develop a closer relationship to G-d. I feel that G-d understands me, and my issues became less and less of a problem the more I saw G-d in my life. I still sometimes have problems with or don’t agree with certain aspects of Judaism that other people maintain and sometimes try forcing on me, but I feel that my relationship with G-d is so good that I feel responsible and self-assured enough to know what works for me and what doesn’t, and as long as I maintain that connection and keep positive about my goals and ideals in Judaism, and they help me grow closer to G-d, then I truly feel the happiness and fulfillment that I couldn’t find elsewhere.
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