So accountability is a hallmark in my recovery. It is something that I do daily, and that if I didn't have daily accountability, I would most likely relapse.

Recovery for me is, I have boundaries for myself. One of those boundaries is, I cannot be online--social media, whatever it is--after 9:00. If I get online after 9:00, then I'm risking to go in a place where it will take me to pornography online. So instead of getting there or risking that, I have that boundary. I cannot be on social media or online after 9:00. Because after 9:00, I am by myself. My kids are in bed, and it's just not a good place for me to be. If I don't set boundaries for myself, I cannot be accountable. And if I cannot be accountable, there's no recovery. There's no recovery. Daily accountability is something that has helped me immensely. And when I say that, it's being accountable to Jeanette. When I have negative emotions that I'm dealing with, I tell her, "Hey, I'm dealing with this." I have friends that I have made pacts with or I've made promises to: "If I'm ever struggling with anything, I'll reach out to you." It's by writing in my journal and letting those negative emotions out in a healthy way. It's by serving every single day, finding even a tiny opportunity to serve. Everyone has pain, shame, fear, whatever you want to call it. But you can deal with it if you're consistent and if you're vigilant against the adversary by choosing to actively become a disciple, by serving others and reaching out. Daily accountability for me at the beginning was being in contact with a sponsor. I would give him daily work. I would check in; we'd have a weekly call. And as I've graduated or moved on in my recovery, I have someone called an accountability partner. And there are certain questions I ask myself that hit on all aspects of my spiritual well-being, my physical well-being, my emotional well-being. And I check in, and I send him my work, and I send him my journal. And he is there to make sure that my thinking is clear and to hold me accountable. And in return, I do the same for him. And so daily accountability keeps me on the path, because if I didn't have that, it would be very easy to veer off and to relapse again. I can be sober, but not accountable. I can be sober, but not honest. And what that means is that the relapse is coming. Recovery means you still have that attitude of "I'm not done. I have not arrived. You know, I am still working at it." But as I'm working, I'm feeling the joy and the peace and the grace and the love--where if I'm just sober, I'm kind of, like, white-knuckling and pretending, and I don't have love, and I don't have peace, and I don't have grace. It's totally different, and I can totally see it and feel it in myself. So when working with adolescents, the most important thing that you can do is get the parents involved. I think some adolescents would rather them not be involved because they're afraid. They feel ashamed. They don't want to upset or disappoint Mom and Dad. And they often think, "I'll just figure this out on my own, and then later I'll tell Mom and Dad, 'Oh, I used to have a problem with this. And fortunately, it's gone. I took care of it. Everything's OK.'" And that doesn't work. Keeping secrets is one of the things that keeps people stuck. And so when I'm advising or educating parents about helping their teens, I help them understand that really, there are two core concepts about recovery from a compulsive or habitual use of pornography. And those are accountability and connection, human connection. And the family is the perfect place to have both of those. When Mom and Dad are involved in holding their adolescents, their teenagers accountable for not only their media usage or managing sexual energy or thoughts, but also just being a healthy human being, and then providing that loving support--the care and guidance that the adolescent needs to learn to cope with how painful life is--that's the perfect scenario for a person to heal. I have seen more success with young men and young women overcome challenges with pornography prior to a mission or the temple or whatever it may be by going to their parents and talking with them and getting help on a daily basis. I like to think of coming to Christ and the surrendering process as my coping way. You know, we often talk about, "This is how I cope with depression; this is how I cope with anxiety." I want to say, "This is how I cope with life. I go to Christ. He's there to help me. Why not go to Him?" As I healed, I was brought closer to God. Like, the closer I became to God, the more I healed, the more I started to love myself because I felt His love; I was closer to His love. And in so doing, I taste it--I taste recovery. It is an amazing thing. The least I can do is reach out and dedicate several hours a week to recovery--not just my recovery, but reaching out to other brethren. I've had people that I've sponsored say, "Oh, thank you for doing this. You're so selfless. Why do you do this?" And I say, first of all, "This is how I'm saying thanks back to the Savior. This is the least I can do for what He has done for me. What I'm doing is just a tiny drop in a bucket. It's just the smallest thing. But this is how I'm trying to say thanks." I can say thanks with words in my prayer. But I try to say thanks by being a facilitator, by being a sponsor, by reaching out to this guy or that guy, and testifying in every place that I can of putting away my fears. I'll tell people because I want people to taste what I have. I want people to experience this wonderful miracle of recovery.