One of the greatest joys in sobriety is to celebrate recovery milestones, especially when it’s graduating from a long-term program. Too often in recovery we lose sight of what’s important. While it’s very important to check off major to-do items like job, car, vacation, boat, etc., it’s key to remember how you got there. Celebrating milestones is a great way to keep your bottom close and see how far you’ve come.

Celebrate Your Recovery Milestones as a Reminder of How it Was

Think about your last day drinking and drugging. Remember how you felt that day. Did you feel good? We didn’t. Drug addiction is a terrible disease, and it robs us of so many things. Most of all it takes away our self respect. That’s why sobriety milestones are so important. Celebrating 6 month or a year of sobriety, or enjoying the victory of completing a new Step in your 12-Step program, or graduating from a treatment program like Recovery Ventures.

Whenever you celebrate a recovery milestone, you celebrate recovery itself. But celebrating these milestones isn’t just about the person celebrating. Families, kids, spouses, Mom, Dad, girlfriends, boyfriends and other people who care love to see their loved one succeed. So even though you might not want to stand up and get some applause, the people in your family probably want to clap for you, so let them.

Celebrating recovery milestones helps the newcomer

Sometimes the person who needs to see someone else celebrate a recovery milestone is the newcomer who just began his journey into sobriety. When you have 2 days sober, seeing someone stand up to get a 3 month coin or keytag is simply amazing. The newcomer may think, “gee, if he can do it, so can I.” So don’t hide your recovery milestones out of modesty or embarrassment. Stand up, be proud of your accomplishment, and celebrate the milestones in your recovery together with us.

Graduation