• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Daily Recovery Club

living sober one day at a time

  • AA Daily Reflection
  • About
  • The Rules
  • Resources
  • Timeline

35 Days Sober: What are the important sobriety milestones?

Posted by Sober Tony on March 21, 2017 1 Comment

This blog started as my alcohol recovery journal. Now that I’m past 30 days, I’m wondering what are the most important dates in overcoming alcoholism.

The obvious answer is every single day matters. That’s why we talk about living one day at a time, ODAAT.

But I really like adding up my total days without drinking. It’s giving me an extra reason to wake up in the morning. I want to see that sober counter add another day. I know it’s no guarantee about my sobriety tomorrow, but it feels good to see progress in a way that can be measured.

So today, I did a little digging online. I wanted to understand what recovery milestones are considered most important. Most of what I found relates to the AA token.

Wikipedia has an article on the sobriety coin and describe the poker chips and what the different colors signify:

  1. White Chip – 1 day/24 hours of sobriety. Called the “desire” or the “clean” chip.
  2. Silver Chip – 30 days/1 month of sobriety
  3. Dark Gold Chip – 60 days/2 months of sobriety
  4. Red Chip – 90 days/3 months of sobriety
  5. Yellow Chip – 6 months of sobriety
  6. Green Chip – 9 months of sobriety
  7. Blue Chip – 1 year of sobriety

AA tokens (poker chips) are not an official part of the program, but local groups often practice this widespread tradition. It varies by meeting, personal sponsor, and even region. You can read some examples on this Quora post.  Here are the relevant quotes:

I’ve seen Chip Meetings offer chips for Newcomers, 30 days, 90 days, A year, Each anniversary. The big ones seemed to be 5 years 10 years and 20 years.

In the US south, groups give poker chips for 1, 30, 60, 90, six months, 9 months, first year, subsequent years.  One group gives 18 month chips. In parts of the US Northeast, some groups give 1 day, first year, 5 year chips.

You can find specialty shops online who sell a variety of AA chips. Based on their inventory this seems normal: the 24 hour chip, then monthly through one year, and after that annual.

Of course there are other milestones that can’t be counted. For example, I’m excited about my first sober birthday or celebrating Christmas without alcohol. Another way to measure progress is working the 12 steps of AA.

Some other interesting links:

  • Psych Central has some more ideas for celebrating your recovery.
  • The Dual Diagnosis blog lists 30 and 90 Days — 1, 5 and 10 years as the major milestones.
  • I found this page on Pinterest with tons of Sobriety gift ideas.

I’d love to hear from you. What dates felt the most important in your recovery?

Related

Related posts:

  1. 93 Days Sober: Protect Your Sobriety American is busy. ???????? I’m doing some heavy recovery work this week. 2 of top 3 difficult amends divorce lawyer stuff w/o resentment adjusting​ to new psychiatric drugs doing real parenting...
  2. 106 Days Sober: Being Selfish about My Sobriety Make your hula hoop smaller. Everything and everything outside can f*ck off. Who are you kidding? You can’t take care of all that shit because you’re not that f*cking smart....
  3. 21 Days Sober: The momentum of 3 weeks sobriety It’s been 21 days sober . The picture above is the from the running track where I’m spending my mornings in Haiti. It feels a little like a 3rd world...
  4. 7 Weeks Sober (49 Days) Talking my way to sobriety Today, I’ve got 49 days of sobriety. That’s 7 weeks without alcohol. The longest period I can remember in 10 years. The math is fuzzy, but here is my estimate...
  5. 114 Days Sober: How I Found Sobriety on Twitter I'm celebrating 2 weeks #sober by joining Twitter — Sober Tony (@sobertony) February 28, 2017 That was my first tweet, so today is 100 days on Twitter. More importantly, today is my...
  6. 14 Days Sober: Two weeks sobriety but feeling blank, bored, distant, blah I’ve been feeling a little blank today. It really started sometime last night, just a checked out kind of mood. It’s more distant than sad. Yesterday, I was looking forward...

Filed Under: Getting Sober

About Sober Tony

Tony is the founder and editor of Daily Recovery Club. He is a widely respected authority (in his own mind). He's just trying to live a little longer and a lot stronger.

This blog is not professional or medical advice, rather a support community for others suffering from alcoholism. We are all experts on failure, starting over, and trying to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Find him on Twitter @soberTony

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Steven says

    January 22, 2024 at 6:44 am

    Hello my name is Steve,
    I have made it to day 35, I am happy to have made it this far. Everyday is a battle. It has become easier to not give in but there are times that I really want to have a drink, but I have to constantly remind myself one drink puts me right back where I started this journey. I know in my heart I can never be a social drinker. I did start drinking at a very young age and drank moderate to heavy for almost 10 years then I had a son and quit for almost 12 years. After 12 years I decided one night it would be ok to have a beer or two only to see even after all that time quit within about 3 months I was right back to drinking everyday only this time there were not any boundaries. I would find myself having drinks early morning that would pretty much ruin whatever was planned for later in the day, so after getting the flu and going into pneumonia this was a chance to get sober. I didn’t have to fight the urge of the first couple weeks because I was too sick to even want to drink. Here I am at day 35 after my return to normal from being sick. I feel confident and better about myself for making it this far. I just have to remind myself the choice is mine. I am either an alcoholic the rest of my life or be sober there is no in between for me. I am choosing to remain sober for now and pray that is where my mind keeps me.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • Scott on What happened to you man? Non-Sober update 2024
  • Sober Tony on What happened to you man? Non-Sober update 2024
  • kforh on What happened to you man? Non-Sober update 2024
  • Sober Tony on THE RULES of Recovery Club
  • Gerald T Van Horn on Share your recovery story. We need to do this together.
  • Reeta on About
  • Eric on THE RULES of Recovery Club
  • Rebecca Ann Ruggles on 29 Days Sober: I’m learning what ODAAT means
  • Joseph M. on THE RULES of Recovery Club
  • Jen on 70 days sober (10 weeks sober) Is PAWS a real thing?

Get New Posts By Email

Top Posts & Pages

  • Day 3 Sober: What to expect on your third day of sobriety (72 hours)
  • Printable 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (Free PDF Download)
  • An addict fell in hole and couldn’t get out (parable for recovery)
  • 6 weeks sober: 42 days without drinking and learning to cope with life
  • About
  • What happened to you man? Non-Sober update 2024
  • 4 Days Sober: Keep going, tell the truth, find outside help
  • 25 Days Sober: Alcohol is not my friend, it's my worst enemy
  • 10 Days Sober: Will quitting alcohol make me gain or lose weight?
  • 9 Weeks Sober (63 Days) Starting to Believe the AA Promises

Trusted Recovery Resources

Substance Abuse National Helpline
1-800-662-4357
Alcoholics Anonymous
Smart Recovery

Footer

Disclaimer & Terms of Use

The information contained on this website is for informational and educational purposes. It is not medical advice and should NOT be used as a substitute for the advice of an appropriately qualified and licensed physician or other health care provider.

If you are having a medical emergency, call a doctor or 911 immediately. You should always seek the advice a qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding the treatment of addiction and mental health conditions.

Please call the Substance Abuse National Helpline
1-800-662-4357 to speak with a trained addiction counselor.

Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.  The website, content, and social media messages are provided on an “as is” basis.

Copyright © 2025 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in