The Burden of Being Right

The Burden of Being Right

Understanding the Seduction of Certainty

Personal reflections from a fellow traveler.  Not AA approved literature.  Shared in the spirit of Experience, Strength, and Hope.

In my life, certainty arrives with confidence.
It feels steady. Settled. Safe. Being right quiets doubt and brings relief. But above that calm, there is weight.

Certainty ends the questions we don’t want to sit with. Over time, what feels like clarity becomes confinement. The mind locks in. The heart stiffens. Growth slows.

I’m learning that the need to be right can replace the willingness to be honest. When certainty hardens, listening stops. Disagreement feels like threat. Conviction slips into control.

I have used certainty to protect myself—not always to seek truth, but to preserve comfort. The cost is subtle but real. Relationships thin and Grace narrows. I may win arguments while losing connection.

Pride lives here quietly.
Not loud, but settled. The voice that says, “I already know.” It mistakes rigidity for strength. Yet strength that cannot bend eventually breaks.

The Steps invite a different posture. Not abandoning truth but releasing control. Holding conviction with humility. Leaving room to learn.

The burden lifts when I no longer need to be right to feel safe.

Where in my life am I carrying the weight of certainty—and what might change if I set it down?