Celebrate
After fifteen months and hundreds of hours, I have completed my Life Coach and Recovery Coach certifications.
Now, how do I celebrate? It’s a question that has come up several times in the past 893 days of sobriety. Prior to sobriety, I would have said, “Let’s drink to that!” and poured a glass (or four) of champagne. Alcohol is often the center of celebrations. I didn’t grow up putting the two together. In fact, I didn’t grow up celebrating holidays or birthdays; it wasn’t part of my family's religious beliefs. We would celebrate weddings and wedding anniversaries, and never with alcohol. There would be cake, presents, decorations, music, and dancing. There would be a sharing of joy with family and community. Later in life, as an adult, I learned to celebrate with alcohol and that became the go-to.
Something else that’s coming up today is how to share the joy, the celebration, when I’m not on social media. It’s meant sharing in my sober communities and texting friends directly. It’s been me sharing face to face in real life (scary!) with people I engage with.
Learning to celebrate without alcohol is something sober folks and non-sober folks could benefit from. It’s worth taking the time to ask ourselves, Who taught me how to celebrate? Where did they learn to celebrate? What does celebration mean to me now? How can I honor this moment? What are some new ways of celebrating I can try?
My coach recently received her Master Certified Coach designation (bravo!), and even she reached out for ideas for a meaningful way to mark this big moment. It’s something we can continue to explore and asking others for ideas is a good way to start.
Some of the ideas I sent her were:
Make art
Take an art/movement class
Get bodywork done
Spa time with hot/cold therapies
Tattoo
Symbolic jewelry
Take a walk or hike alone or with others
Take a picture of yourself looking proud for this moment
Write yourself a card and mail it to yourself
Drink a glass of water! Seriously, water is a perfect way to celebrate. Imagine a commercial for champagne. Now replace the champagne with water. It works. It’s all marketing, babe.
Thank you for reading this. I hope you'll come back. I'll be over here.
