Fostering an Attitude of Accountability

Coastline Behavioral Health for Women facilitates group and individual sessions to help our clients develop life skills that can help them reach their goals and to live to their full potential. Perhaps the most important life skill is the ability and willingness to learn. By learning new skills we increase our understanding of the world around us and equip ourselves with the tools we need to live a more productive and fulfilling life, and to have ways to cope with the challenges when living a healthy life in recovery. The following was inspired from a recent session that focused on accountability.

Taking personal responsibility allows you to gain control over outcomes in your life by making informed, smart choices. There is value in admitting past mistakes because it helps you make better choices in the future. Remember, there are always consequences (negative and positive) for the choices you make.

Just the thought of taking on one more responsibility is perhaps stressful, especially if you already overwhelmed by staying sober and rebuilding your life. There is one positive way to think about it. Being more responsible can also mean taking more control over what happens to you.

Think about this. There is trash on the front sidewalk. Who picks it up? We all so often hear, it’s not my job! No, it’s not your job, but you live there and it may reflect poorly on you. Not taking responsibility for what goes undone is one thing, but if you don’t learn to take responsibility for decisions in your life you will pay a price. For everything in life, there is a price and a pay-off.

Like the example shown above, learning to take responsibility helps you take control of your future and help in your recovery. By owning up to past mistakes and being accountable, you can:

• Identify barriers you have faced to not achieving past goals.
• Learn new ways to become more comfortable with making decisions.
• Accept the credit for positive outcomes for our past decisions.
• Understand the negative consequences of past decisions.  

The more you can determine the positive things in your life, the more you will have them. If you leave control in the hands of someone else, or in the hands of the “system,” you will no doubt find the outcome may not be what you want. One way of getting more of what you want from life is to make sure that the outcome turns out in your favor, so start being more accountable and start taking responsibility! Your life will change.