RESPONSIBILITY

Definition of Responsible:
The state or fact of being accountable or to blame for something.

Synonyms for Responsible:
Accountable, amenable, answerable, liable

These notes are from recovery in AA and/or related 12 step programs.
Readers are encouraged to click external links for more detail.
We hope you find them helpful.

Love in fellowship.

The manner with which we walk through life is each man’s most important
responsibility. Each morning at sunrise, we should spend time praying to the Creator. We should say something like, my Creator, this morning I ask you to show me, in terms I can understand, what you have for me to do.  –Elders | More…

The moment you take personal responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you can change everything in your life. –Hal Elrod

Many of us have misused the concept of powerlessness to avoid making decisions or to hold onto things we had outgrown. We have blamed others for our circumstances rather than taking positive action to change those circumstances.

If we continue to avoid responsibility by claiming that we are “powerless,” we set ourselves up for the same despair and misery we experienced in our active addiction.
The potential for spending our recovery years feeling like victims is very real.

Instead of living our lives by default, we can learn how to make responsible choices and take risks.  We may make mistakes, but we can learn from these mistakes.
A heightened awareness of ourselves and an increased willingness to accept personal responsibility gives us the freedom to change, to make choices, and to grow. –Just For Today | More…

We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. –Oswald Chambers | More…

The law is that all life is equal in the Great Creation. Every generation is accountable to leave the environment in healthy order for the next generation. Each individual is directly accountable. –Elder’s Meditations | More…

We choose the lives we lead. Accepting full responsibility for our actions is one of the requirements of maturity. An unexpected benefit of accepting our responsibility is that it heightens our awareness of personal power. Our well-being is within our power. We are in control of our outlook. And our outlook decides our future. –Each Day a New Beginning | More…

One day at a time, we can be restored in recovery – mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and financially. It may get worse before it gets better – because we are finally facing reality instead of dodging it. But once we make the decision to take financial responsibility for ourselves, we are on our way. –The Language of Letting Go | More…