The journey to sobriety is never an easy one; that’s why you should celebrate milestones at the end of the year. It’s the end of the year, a new one is just starting and you’ve worked hard during the last year to beat your addiction.

You’ve experienced highs and lows; you’ve had to dig deep to get yourself back up. Congratulations on making it through the year.

You most probably will not have made it this far without dedication to your sobriety milestones. These goals kept you on the grind, they motivated you every day to keep fighting, and now you’ve won for another year. Isn’t all of these worth celebrating?

No doubt there were times you felt you couldn’t continue. You must have experienced the lowest of the lows, and maybe even had to deal with relapse. After all, about 40% of people who get addiction treatment suffer a relapse.

So you see, the fact that you make it through another year with your sights still set on sobriety is a big deal. Not to worry, we will help you understand what we mean. In this blog, we will explore why you should celebrate sobriety milestones.

What are Sobriety Milestones?

Setting and celebrating milestones or targets is not a new concept to people undergoing addiction treatment in Vancouver. Therapists usually recommend to patients to set realistic goals for themselves during recovery. But to make it more interesting, patients are also advised to reward themselves for the completion of these goals.

Sobriety milestones are special dates in your recovery journey. These specific milestones help you reflect on your progress and encourage you to keep fighting. These milestones are also a reminder that you’re no longer the same person you were some time ago.

Examples of Important Sobriety Milestones

We can categorize sobriety milestones into two groups. They are:

The special, once-in-a-year anniversaries.

These are single days set apart in a year to celebrate important decisions and actions that helped your recovery journey. They include;

• The day you decided and took action to fight your addiction.
• The day you came out and reached out for help in your fight against your addiction.
• Your first therapy session
• The day you completed your residential addiction recovery program.

The targets

These are regular realistic short-term milestones you set for yourself. You can refer to them as recovery goals you want to achieve by the end of a specific timeframe. They include:

• Daily recovery targets
• Monthly recovery targets
• Quarterly recovery targets
• Yearly recovery targets

Related article: Tips on How to Celebrate Your Sobriety

Why You Should Celebrate End of the Year Sobriety Milestones

Not considering the reasons we’re going to list below, celebrating milestones is an innate desire. We celebrate success and rejoice because of our wins.

So, why should you celebrate the end of the year sobriety milestone? Well, because an addiction problem doesn’t make you less human. You’re human and humans celebrate milestones!

Celebrating sobriety milestones help you recount your victories over your addiction

When you celebrate an end of the year sobriety milestone, it helps you recount your victories during the year. You’re probably wondering what these victories are. The truth is, you win new battles with each passing day of your recovery.

Celebrating these victories means celebrating not going back into your addiction. It means celebrating living a healthier, happier life. It means celebrating being a better version of yourself. It means enjoying the fact that you’re breaking away from the actions that bring guilt and shame to you.

There are many victories for you to celebrate. The most important one is the fact that you’re no longer a slave to your urges. You’re now free, and you can finally take hold of your life and fulfill life goals.

It gives you a chance to celebrate the people who are helping in your recovery journey

You never really get to appreciate the people who are helping your recovery journey. This fact is a major part of why you should celebrate your end of the year sobriety milestone. The celebrations can give you a chance to give thanks and appreciate those people for their support.

You get to show your sincere appreciation to the people helping you to fight your battles. Without the support of these folks, addiction treatment and recovery is 5 times harder. Your support system is always there behind you, pushing you and pulling you up when you’re falling. Hence, it is important to celebrate them.

It helps you reflect on the past and present

Milestone celebration times are also reflection times. The fact that it helps you to think back on your journey so far is why you should celebrate end of the year addiction recovery milestones.

It allows you to see how far you’ve come, the mistakes you made and the things you can improve on. It also helps you to see the positives and negatives while encouraging you to forge on.

When you celebrate sobriety milestones, it encourages you not to relent and strive to achieve even more. It helps you realize that you’re a conqueror, a fighter who can win against anything.

It helps you refresh and get ready for the new battles in the new year

With reflection comes a refreshing feeling. When you celebrate the end of the year sobriety milestone, you are also preparing for the new year. Here’s how it works.

With reflection comes the extra motivation to head into the new year and face new battles. Psychologically, the fact that you have scaled one hurdle gives you courage and the strength to scale through another year.

You know you deserve your victories, you have come a long way, and you are not afraid to take on the new year. You will look forward to the next sobriety milestone because you’re eager to look at your recovery rate.

How to Celebrate Yearly Sobriety Milestones

The way you want to celebrate your sobriety milestone depends on you. However, you have to take special care to make sure the celebration is not an avenue for triggers and cravings to creep into your life. It doesn’t have to be a full-blown over the top party, just have fun and reward yourself.

Throw a party or treat yourself to a nice dinner with loved ones

To celebrate your end of the year sobriety milestone, you can decide to party with a few friends and family. A picnic is a great idea; dinner in the yard is not bad either. The most important thing is for you to spend that time eating and enjoying time with your loved ones.

Make sure to invite everyone that contributes positively to your recovery journey. This way, you can easily show your appreciation of their efforts. Also, be sure not to have alcohol and controlled substances at your party.

If you don’t like the idea of a party or you don’t have people to invite to a party, then a fancy dinner should do. This dinner should include at least one person who helped in one way or the other in your recovery journey. Invite such a person to join you for dinner. They can be your spouse, partner, or even your therapist.

Make a weekend of it

There’s nothing wrong with celebrating for the whole of the weekend. You can make it like a mini-vacay that will be full of different activities for you and your loved ones. You can visit places, play games and try out unique activities on different days.

That way, it grows from just an end of the year sobriety milestone celebration to an end of the year reunion! What’s better than that?

Get yourself a trophy or gift as a memento of your victories

Achieving your yearly sobriety milestone is a big deal. You know what’s a big deal too — a gift. We recommend some sort of trophy, something that you can always look at to remind yourself that you’re a winner.

For example, you can get yourself a customized piece of jewelry, a literal trophy or an award plaque. It may even be something as simple as that wallet you have always wanted. Get yourself a memento that will frequently remind you of your addiction achievements.

Conclusion

All of the different points above are why you should celebrate the end of the year sobriety milestones. Stop giving yourself excuses not to do it. This is a chance for you to celebrate your wins. Take it and appreciate your efforts.

Celebrating your sobriety milestone is an opportunity for you to come up with a plan for the new year. If you need professional addiction support services, Inspire Change Addiction Rehab is a willing partner. Contact us today to speak with an addiction treatment expert! We can help you design a roadmap to maintaining your sobriety this year. Call Inspire Change Addiction Rehab in Vancouver for addiction treatment programs. Good luck!