cookies in bed

On my one-year anniversary of not drinking, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and climbed into bed. It was a delicious way to celebrate getting through an entire year without alcohol.

I was amazed by how much I'd learned. I'd learned how to get through Thanksgiving without drinking. How to go to a concert without a cup in my hand. How to go on vacation without ending up at a bar.

Every year since, I think about what I've learned in the last 365 days — and I celebrate it. One year, to mark learning how to live without a relationship, I bought myself a simple gold ring. Another year, I celebrated having enough in savings to cover an emergency electrical repair. Learning how to do life is worth celebrating — even the unglamorous parts.

This year, I walked St. Patrick's Way — 95 miles across Northern Ireland, alone, through forests and mountains, farms and seaside towns. I walked off the old stories, the sad stuff I'd been carrying without realizing it. What I learned this year was how to let go.

What have you learned this year? Whatever it is, it's worth marking — that's the whole idea behind Evertwelve: not just counting the years, but naming what each one taught you.