Delivered by: Someone Still Surprised They Made It Here
Table of Contents
- From Rock Bottom to Recovery: The First Steps
- "One Day at a Time" Actually Works (Who Knew?)
- To All My Fellow Human Beings: Thank You
- A Year of Growth, Gratitude, and Grit
- Recovery Isn't Boring—It's the Best Kind of Weird
- For the Newcomers
- Sobriety Is a Long Game—and a Good One
- The Ripple Effect of Recovery
- Don't Forget the Laughter
- On Risk and Resilience
- Sobriety and Creativity
- You've Come a Long Way, Baby
- Celebrate Without Shame
- Final Words: Don't Let the Past Steal Your Future
Hello, friends, family members, total strangers, and the fellow brave souls in this room who have ever cried over a dropped sobriety coin or accidentally yelled at a toaster during early recovery.
Today is my sober birthday—my first full year without drinking, drugging, or throwing my phone across the room after watching someone sip a mimosa on Instagram. This isn’t just any day. It’s my sober anniversary. And folks, let me tell you—it’s a big deal.
I should warn you—this isn’t going to be your average Hallmark-style “thanks to my Higher Power and also my cat” kind of speech. No. This is a love letter, roast, and redemption tale rolled into one sprite bottle. So buckle up.
From Rock Bottom to Rocking the Podium
Let’s rewind to last year, shall we?
I was a walking cautionary tale. I had good intentions but no follow-through. I knew I wanted a better life, but my habits were writing checks my liver couldn’t cash. I had officially hit rock bottom, which is a lot less like a dramatic movie scene and more like waking up in your cousin’s bathtub with half a Pop-Tart in your hair and no idea what state you’re in.
During one of those moments, I found myself at an AA meeting. I didn’t go in to get better—I went in to get my mom to stop texting me passive-aggressive sobriety quotes. But the universe had other plans.
“One Day at a Time” Actually Works (Who Knew?)
That first AA meeting? Terrifying. I thought people would ask me invasive questions like, “What’s your trauma?” or “Have you tried celery juice?” Instead, I was met with words of encouragement, a few solid hugs, and—bonus points—a woman named Shirley who made killer banana bread.
And just like that, I started to listen.
Sobriety started to seem like a different way of life—one where you don’t need to drown out your anxiety with a bottle of Chardonnay. One where mental health isn’t a taboo topic. Showing up for yourself is cooler than being drunk at brunch.
To All My Fellow Human Beings: Thank You
To my sponsor, thank you for answering my 1:00 a.m. texts that just said, “WHY THO.” Your patience, humor, and ability to call me out gently but firmly have been one of the best gifts on this journey.
To my family members, thank you for not staging a second intervention after I became obsessed with sober events and started quoting Sharon Salzberg unironically at Thanksgiving.
To my friends, especially the ones who didn’t run when I started getting real about my addiction recovery, thank you for choosing connection over comfort. You showed me what it means to have true personal relationships.
A Year of Growth, Gratitude, and Grit
Let’s not romanticize this: the first year of sobriety is hard. Like “being on a reality show where you’re the villain and also the camera crew” hard. But somehow, I made it.
Through mental illness, the whispers of suicidal ideations, and the gnawing regret of past mistakes, I kept showing up. With every sobriety coin I received, I learned that the best way to grow is to be vulnerable, even when messy.
I learned that crying while journaling in a park isn’t “extra”—it’s called healing.
I learned that positive reinforcement actually works—even if it’s just yelling “YAS!” at yourself in the mirror after declining a drink at a wedding.
And most of all, I learned that recovery is not about being perfect. It’s about choosing the right direction, day by day, even when the wrong thing looks like the better option.
Recovery Isn’t Boring—It’s the Best Kind of Weird
Contrary to what every bachelor party movie ever made says, sobriety is not boring. In similar events where I once would’ve downed six shots of tequila, I now down six non-alcoholic beverages and feel fancy AF doing it.
Here are some other things I’ve discovered this year:
- Board games are still fun, even if no one’s tipsy enough to flip the table.
- Escape rooms are harder when your brain isn’t fogged with regret and vodka.
- Cooking classes make for a killer date night—and you remember the food the next day.
- I like hiking. Who knew? (Shout out to the Robert Frost fans for making the woods poetic.)
- Good stuff happens when you’re fully present.
I even found time to get into inspirational quotes, from Eleanor Roosevelt to Demi Lovato. My Pinterest board has seen things.
You Know You’re Healing When…
- You stop avoiding mirrors and start smiling at them.
- You attend a sober event and don’t feel like you’re missing out.
- You start giving sample messages of hope to other newcomers.
- You cry happy tears over an AA chip, not because you dropped your phone in the toilet again.
For the Newcomers
If you’re here and still counting your days of sobriety on one hand, I want to say this:
I see you. I was you.
I know it feels like you’re walking a lonely path, like nobody stays sober anymore, and that sobriety is just a phase between relapses.
But I promise you: the best days are ahead of you.
You’re not the only person who ever drank until 3:00 a.m. to silence your demons. You’re just one of the brave ones who said, “Enough.”
You’re not weak for asking for help. You’re strong for believing you deserve a better life.
Sobriety Is a Long Game—and a Good One
If there’s one truth that this blog post disguised as a speech wants to offer, it’s this:
Sobriety is the long game. It’s the long laugh. The long hug. The lifelong commitment to yourself.
We all get to rewrite our stories. And some of the most potent chapters come after the chaos. When we choose a fresh start and stop letting the past steal our joy, we live with intention.
As Anne Lamott writes, “Hope begins in the dark.” And believe me, I had enough dark to start a goth fashion line.
But light came.
The Ripple Effect of Recovery
One of the most surprising things about sobriety? It’s not just your life that changes.
Your growth sends ripples through your whole family, your coworkers, and even the barista who used to make your “hangover helper” espresso triple-shot special. Your courage to choose a different way can spark conversations and transformations you never even planned for.
And let’s not forget the family members who watched you go from late-night chaos to early-morning gratitude. My niece recently said, “Uncle no longer smells like sadness.” If that isn’t a milestone, I don’t know what is.
Don’t Forget the Laughter
I’d be lying if I said the first year of sobriety didn’t come with plenty of unintentional comedy.
Like the time I nervously overexplained at a wedding that I was “sober, not sick,” after declining champagne. Or the moment I found myself using “I’m in addiction recovery” as a way to get out of jury duty (spoiler: it worked).
But laughter, my friends, is healing.
Even when I cried in meetings, someone would crack a joke about their sobriety milestone, and suddenly the air would lighten. That’s the magic of Alcoholics Anonymous—you walk in broken and end up belly-laughing with strangers who feel like family.
On Risk and Resilience
Every day sober is a dance with the risk of relapse. It’s a game of staying vigilant but not paranoid. It’s keeping your mental health in check, watching out for those old emotional triggers, and remembering that HALT (hungry, angry, lonely, tired) isn’t just cute—it’s a roadmap.
And if you’re someone who, like me, has also tangled with an eating disorder or bouts of mental illness, then you know that recovery is layered. It’s not one-and-done. It’s wake up, suit up, and show up on a daily basis.
Sobriety and Creativity
I thought drinking made me more creative. It turns out that sobriety just removed the fog that was hiding all the good ideas.
Now I write music again. I journal. I dream. I even write emotional sobriety anniversary cards to myself—and no, you can’t read them unless you also bring snacks.
Artists like Elton John, Demi Lovato, and even Ralph Waldo Emerson—yes, that transcendental wizard of wisdom—have spoken about transformation. About finding power in pause. That’s what recovery gives us: time and space to rediscover the magic.
You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
I want to say this to myself—and maybe it’s something you need to hear too:
You’ve come a long way from that dark place. From the last day to the next day, you chose life.
And that matters.
This wasn’t just about giving up alcohol abuse or drug use. It was about learning how to be a full human being again. To be someone who shows up. Who loves fully? Who doesn’t numb pain but leans into it and learns from it?
Celebrate Without Shame
So when you reach a sober anniversary, don’t downplay it.
Don’t say, “It’s just a year.” Say, “It’s a freakin’ miracle.” Say, “It’s a year of doing the hard work.” Say, “It’s a year of positive behavior instead of patterns that wrecked my life.”
You get a cake. You get to dance in your living room. You get to treat yourself to a goofy hat and wear it to your next AA meeting just to make someone smile.
Because this isn’t just a celebration—it’s a declaration.
You are here.
You are sober.
You are alive today.
Final Words: Don’t Let the Past Steal Your Future
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
For a long time, I thought I had ruined everything. The bridges were burned, and the future was scorched earth.
But recovery taught me that while the past is a chapter, it doesn’t get to write the rest of your life.
You can start again at any moment. You can say no to that drink. You can say yes to that meeting. You can say “I need help” without shame. You can say “I love you” and mean it.