A friend of mine was venting today as we often do with each other about things that women vent about. I told her what the friend part of me felt she was looking to hear, but I also joked that a true friend is one that tells you what you  NEED to hear, not what you WANT to hear. But in actuality what I was trying to say is that I am not being a good “accountability partner”.

Now I believe that having an accountability partner can come in the form of a friend, coworker, husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, sibling, parent…you get my drift.  I have many friends that I can rely on for support and are wonderful at being that. However, I do have one friend in particular that is always good at holding me accountable. I’ve had many conversations where I’m initially annoyed or upset with her because she didn’t agree with me or didn’t take my side, but what I’ve learned is that she cared enough about me to tell me where  my thinking may be faulty or helped me to consider another perspective and for that I am truly grateful.

We can all use an accountability in many facets of our life.  So what do I mean when I say “accountability partner”? It’s someone who keeps us in line, someone who holds us to our commitments, someone who keeps us spiritually grounded, someone who holds us to our goals. In essence, think about a time when you decided to go to the gym and perhaps set a goal to eat better.  When you have someone who is there to tell you to put down the slice of cheesecake when you’re trying to lose weight, that’s who I’m referring to.  I believe that in marriages, spouses should be each other accountability partner and hold each other to be the best person they can be.  Now not anyone can be put in this position, so choose wisely.

This needs to be someone trust worthy, someone who has your best interest at heart, someone who has integrity, someone who is able to confront you with empathy and compassion, someone who is patient, someone who won’t share your struggles with the world and someone who is willing to hold themselves to the same standards.  If you do have one of those in your life, consider yourself blessed, if not consider getting one.  Happy partner hunting!

Be Blessed~