Celebrating Your Sobriety Birthday
- Mandy Sandhu
- 2 Oct 2020
The road to sobriety is not an easy one. It’s full of ups and downs, challenges you never thought you’d overcome, and plenty of new experiences. Everyone has gone through their own struggles while healing and each hurdle you overcome is a milestone representing personal growth. These moments should be celebrated, including your sobriety birthday.
People around the world celebrate birthdays, wedding anniversaries, pregnancies, graduations and other momentous occasions in life that signify growth. Your sobriety birthday should be no different. In this blog, we break down exactly what a sobriety birthday means and why you should acknowledge it.
What Is a Sobriety Birthday?
There is a wide range of milestones on the path to recovery and your sobriety birthday is one of them. Everyone’s sobriety anniversary memorializes a point in their journey where they made a decision to change their habits and progress into the stage of action. For some, this could be the day you decided to stop drinking; for others, it’s the day after using. It’s a specific day each year that is celebrated by many people in recovery and in support groups across North America as a marker of how far you have come in your journey with alcoholism or drugs.
How to Choose the Right Date
Sobriety birthdays, or sobriety milestones, can start when you last had a drink, used, or when you decided to enter a rehab centre for addiction. Choosing a specific date serves as an important reminder that you’ve made significant progress in your recovery and you’ve evolved as a person. It’s a humble reminder that you are your own success story.
Ultimately, your sobriety birthday is entirely up to you, but most people who suffer from alcoholism and addiction use these achievements as reference for their sobriety:
- The day you started your treatments
- It also could be the day you actually stopped drinking alcohol or taking drugs
- The day you decided you needed professional help
- It could also be the day you realized that you’re struggling with alcoholism or addiction
Additionally, you may wish to take any relapses into consideration. Relapse is a common occurrence in the recovery process. Figuring out ways to stay sober after rehab is different for everyone. If you wish to choose a new sobriety birthday based on a relapse period you may do so. It’s important to be patient with yourself while you’re working through it.
Reasons Why You Should Celebrate Your Sobriety Birthday
1. It Serves as a Reminder of How Far You’ve Come
Your sobriety birthday will remind you that no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, but these mistakes aren’t something to be ashamed of. By celebrating your sobriety birthday, it represents how far you’ve come, allowing you to reflect on your struggles and triumphs over the years.
2. It Gives You the Chance to Thank the People Behind Your Journey
It’s impossible to celebrate the success of sobriety without the unwavering support of your mentors, addiction professionals and loved ones. It should be a celebration of them, too. Whether you’ve been sober for two months or 20 years, recovery is not an easy journey and you wouldn’t be where you are without the help and support of your friends, family, and network. They loved you no matter what, through the lowest of the lows and the highs. At the end of the day, your sobriety birthday is a humble reminder that they stayed by your side through it all and you persevered through one of the toughest experiences of a lifetime.
3. It Helps You Appreciate Life More
When you celebrate your sobriety birthday, you will come to realize the quality of your life compared to when you were struggling with your alcoholism or drug use. You’ll be able to appreciate and see just how much you’ve grown spiritually and mentally throughout recovery. By acknowledging your journey, you’ll feel a sense of empowerment to take control of your life again and tackle new challenges head-on. It will stand as a reminder that it’s never too late to change your life for the better.
4. It Helps You Identify Goals for the Future
By marking your sobriety birthday or anniversary as a milestone in your life, you can sit back and reflect on what else you hope to achieve for yourself. Marking the months and years of progress will make you feel more accomplished and reflect on how your life, along with your loved ones’ lives, have improved thanks to your sobriety.
Just like New Year’s, your sobriety birthday can serve as the perfect opportunity for a new start. Think about the goals you’ve achieved in the last year relating to your experience with alcoholism and set new recovery goals for the year ahead.
How Should You Celebrate Your Sobriety Birthday?
There are so many ways you can celebrate your sobriety. Consider throwing a recovery event, become a role model or source of encouragement to others that are struggling with alcoholism, treat yourself with a present or gourmet meal, or host a small gathering with the people who helped you become sober.
While there’s no need to throw a big party to commemorate your sobriety birthday, it is an opportunity to give recognition to those who deserve it. You can do this in whatever way you’re comfortable with; any kind of recognition will mean a lot to the people who were by your side through it all.
The road to sobriety and staying sober is different for everyone. Emotional therapy through individual and group counselling are just some tools available for those seeking help.