Celebrating and Working

A dear friend celebrated 26 years of sobriety the other day. I have known her the last sixteen of those years, and we have walked with each other through both the darkness of life’s pains and the light of healing and forgiveness. I got to be with her and others to mark the anniversary. No matter if it is 26 years or eleven years, eight years, six months, or two days, sobriety is worth celebrating. But recovery cannot be celebrated if it is not worked. Daily.

Two phrases that I have heard from others and found helpful in my own sobriety and recovery are these:

Daily work for a daily disease.

Don’t get so many years that you forget the days.

My daily recovery work includes actions like reading, writing, talking with others, prayer, and connecting to Great Spirit. And it includes emotions and mindsets that range from acceptance and patience to letting go and forgiving. Some days are diamonds, some are stones.

Recovery doesn’t fix everything. It provides me the tools to clean house when I mess up and to live gratefully when my alcoholic mind would rather live ungratefully. Recovery provides clarity and curiosity. Alcohol provided false relief and then buried me deeper in destructive thinking.

Celebrating takes on new meaning in recovery. I used to drink to celebrate or to drown my sorrows. Now, I join friends in recovery to honor day-to-day efforts. Hope, second chances, restored health, and so much more are available when daily work is done and connections with others are fostered. Onward!