Finding the Courage to be Accountable and Honest

The lifestyle of addiction is one of lies and hypocrisy. There is a deep need to protect ourselves from the fears, choices and behaviors that are taking place in our life of drugs and alcohol. Accountability and honesty have faded to the background and this causes great shame and more unhealthy decisions. For us to begin to heal, the first step is to find the courage to be honest and grab hold to the value of accountability. When this process begins, a great burden lifts and the empowering strength of “I am in control” returns.

Honesty is a difficult process because the world is one of blame and excuses. Society dictates a different morale compass and our values are easily skewed. We are susceptible to what we are being told through social media, movies and commercials. These distorted messages become our truth and we fall into dangerous paths and faulty thinking.

Another factor is that addiction takes away our value-centered standards. It is a selfish life that focuses on “ME, ME, ME.” Courage to be honest is about stepping out of ourselves and admitting that we are struggling in our thoughts and actions.

We talk about spiraling out of control into a dark abyss of unhappiness and addiction. This becomes the focus and we forget that there is an opposite where we can spiral upward into honesty, accountability, forgiveness, strength and peace.

Honesty is a practiced skill that takes effort and awareness. It is not an easy process when we have become stuck in habitual lies and manipulation. To begin to tell the truth can feel awkward and scary because it is new and there is a vulnerability that is required. But when done with a sincere heart great changes will take place. There is a freeing of the mind and the body.

When we own our hypocrisy and find congruency between what we proclaim and how we live we gain insight and empowerment.

Those who find the courage to reach out and begin speaking with honesty as to their choices, feelings, intentions, and fears will begin to loosen the bands of addiction and find themselves in the process of real change in their recovery.

The object of recovery is to move toward healthy behaviors, emotions and thinking. Taking accountability for who you have become and who you want to become begins with honesty in where you have been.