That's something I love about confession. In our fallen nature we make a conscious decision to sin - to act or think in a way that we know beforehand is offensive to God. The true penitent though wants to correct their behavior, to do HIS will and not their own, for God to show us (in His immeasurable grace and mercy!) the way for us to love Him more and to serve Him better.
God wants more than anything for us to return to Him. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It's more than to just quit running. We need to RETURN to Him. To make that conscious and deliberate act of self-examination and confession. True repentance. So goes the process of healing. And he gave the leaders of His church the authority to bind and loose, to forgive sins. Why else would he have told us so in Sacred Scripture?
It's an interaction, a relationship, our being real-life active participants in the salvation made possible and provided by Christ who is God, who longs for this relationship with us.