Written By, River B.
My birthday is in the fall, often landing on or shortly after the autumn equinox. This year in celebrating with a weekend at my parent’s cottage on the shores of Lake Huron with four of my closest friends, who have all agreed to a sober weekend in support of my new recovery. I am so grateful to have friends like them.
This will be my first birthday sober since weed was legalized where I live. Something about a sober September birthday, here in the early days of recovery, has me reflecting on new beginnings. Perhaps because my birthday always coincided with the return to school, the fall has always felt like the start of a new year even more so than January. And this year I’m entering a new decade, which of course has me reflecting in the past decade and how much is different in my life from the last ten years.
Sobriety, on the surface, feels like the biggest change of course, but I have also grown in my ability to love myself and others, and in my understanding of my Higher Power. Every day recovery brings new lessons into my life and asks me to let go of old habits and unhealthy patterns. Like the trees dropping their leaves in preparation for the spring that is coming, I hope to let go of what no longer serves me so I can continue to grow in my recovery in new ways.
