As you navigate through your recovery journey, you will come across moments that are certainly worth celebrating. For example, your first week sober, followed by a month, six months, or even a year are all special milestones. While this marks the truly incredible progress you have made, you may be wondering — “How do I celebrate without substances?” This may seem difficult at first, especially because substance use may have played a major role in your celebrations in the past. There are ways to celebrate milestones and achievements without substance use, allowing you to stay on track while still having a meaningful celebration of your accomplishments.
Redefine What “Celebration” Means
While you were battling addiction, most likely celebrations involved substance use. It may have been common for you to celebrate with rounds of drinks or even harder drugs. Redefining what “celebration” means will help you stay on track. Think of celebration as a means of appreciating the gratitude and joy of achieving your goal. Rather than as a way of numbing out – celebration will now mean reflecting on your accomplishment and realizing just how far you’ve come.
Do Something Fun and Special
Achieving your milestones in your recovery journey is something that takes a lot of hard work, patience, and determination. As you reach these milestones, do something special! Spend the day outdoors hiking or at the beach. Go out with friends or family for a special meal at your favorite restaurant. Or, you may enjoy a relaxing massage or weekend getaway. The important part to note here is that you can reward yourself with something special – and it does not have to involve substance use.
Reflect on Your Accomplishments
As you reach your recovery milestones, take some time (even 5 minutes) to reflect on how far you’ve come. There are so many instances where we may achieve great things, but we simply don’t take the time to reflect and say “Wow, I really did it!” Keeping a journal and writing these thoughts down can be a helpful tool in both the present moment and for the future. If you are feeling down one day and are discouraged, look at your journal and read what you have written about your milestones. The path to recovery is not a straight line; however, the overall progress should be your focus.
Giving Back Matters
As you navigate through your recovery journey, think about how you can celebrate your accomplishments by giving back to the community. For example, as you reach your milestones, you may decide you want to help others who have been in a similar situation to you. Here at Victory, we have CRPAs (Certified Recovery Peer Advocates), and CASACs (Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselors), who use their personal experiences to help others with their recovery. By helping others, you will feel a sense of purpose knowing you are making such a difference in the lives of patients.
Victory Recovery Partners, a network of eight addiction-recovery centers on Long Island, provides outpatient services to those with substance use and addiction. By providing total care under one roof, consisting of behavioral health, wellness, psychiatric, and medication-assisted treatment services, we ensure that our patients receive the best care possible, allowing them to recover and lead healthy, positive lives. For more information on Victory Recovery Partners, visit our website.