Yesterday marked the 18th month of my sobriety practice. I had a little selfie session to celebrate. I’m using the Popsa app to print one and add it to my 6 month and 12 month ones.
It’s still funny to me how, on this journey, day 1 seemed like 18 months and now 18 months seems to have passed in 1 day. The most meaningful lesson I think I’ve learned so far comes from our SMART Recovery meeting facilitator: sobriety and recovery are two different things. I still say I’m “practicing sobriety” because I do believe it’s a practice. It’s like learning to sing or juggle or play the clarinet. You practice it to learn it, and you never stop practicing it, even when you’re getting good at it. But I know at some point between day 1 and today I entered the realm of recovery.
I’ve applied to be a Certified Peer Support Specialist and will be taking the certification training later this year.
From Mental Health America of Northern Kentucky & Southwest Ohio (mhankyswoh.org):
Certified Peer Support Specialists are trained to use lived experiences in a professional manner to help other people recover. Peer Support Specialists; give encouragement, hope, guidance, and understanding through the recovery process. We utilize lived experiences to form a mutual relationship of equals to support those in recovery. We assist them with the process of moving from hopelessness to hope!
