One of the most difficult and challenging concepts we face in life is that of personal accountability. Ultimately it's something that simply can't be sidestepped or ignored.
Accountability has a direct link with choice; with the decisions we make.
What we are dealing with is an acceptance of responsibility and an acknowledgement of choice. Most important is justification of all that has preceded it.
And that's where the difficulty lies.
We are who we are, what we are and where we are because of the choices we have made.
Accountability is seeing and accepting the path we have chosen and reaching a point where we are not only able to explain what has happened and what is happening to ourselves, but being able to explain it to others.
Accountability and all that it involves can be tough, but as tough as it is it's vital.
Until we accept and understand where we are unable to formulate a clear picture of where we want to be. The greatest assurance is that we can influence our future. It's all a matter of choice.
The decisions about the things that really matter that we make in the next few minutes can have a profound impact on our tomorrows.
There's comfort to be found in the fact that every new day brings with it a new opportunity.
- Gary Bentley is a Rural Aid counsellor.
