Welcome to another official Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude begins each week, which for today is for being the “chip” guy in my home group for the majority of the past four years.
For those who aren’t in the rooms of recovery from addiction, the “chip guy” is the person who hands out these colorful plastic sobriety tokens to those receiving one of those all too important early milestones that fall under a year. In most groups I’ve been a part of over the years, the first and most important sobriety token is a silver one representing 24 hours to 29 days, someone who may be just starting their journey out in sobriety or recommitting to it. Following that typically are chips for 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, and finally 9 months. In my current home group though, we actually are one of the few that honors every single month up to and including 11 months.
With that being said, it’s truly been my honor and pleasure to being the chip person for almost the entire time I’ve been a member of my home group. I’ve always found it to be so rewarding and done my best to doing this task with gusto, letting people know there is no shame in even picking up the 24-hour token, as even one day of sobriety deserves to be honored when it comes to getting free from addiction.
What’s also quite rewarding for me being the chip guy has been to offer a hug to any who receive one of the sobriety tokens. For most, it’s been received well, as feeling loved is something many addicts don’t ever get to experience, especially when deep into their disease. Thus, offering a huge hug and a “Congratulations, I’m so proud of you!” or “Great job, keep coming back!” has usually been met with a very warm and heart-felt response.
Something I also picked up over the years and have felt pretty grateful for when doing the chip job is honor all those attending the meeting who may have celebrated a milestone greater than a year in the past few weeks. Allowing someone to share their number of years sober they recently celebrated not only helps newcomers to see the program works, but also helps to lift the spirit of the person themselves sharing their milestone, especially as the rest of the room erupts in applause in support of their achievement.
Last, but not least, is something I hold very dear to my heart from my days in the rooms of recovery back in Massachusetts. There, I learned to always end the chip duty with the following “If you haven’t had a drink today, give yourself and your Higher Power a hand!” Traditionally, I always feel so good joining in the applause with others after saying that, knowing I’ve made it with them, another day clean and sober from a disease that at one point had wrecked both my life and theirs too.
Thus, I’m truly grateful for my home group allowing me to continue being the chip guy, as it really has been quite rewarding on so many levels, especially in seeing a spark of hope each time I give someone one of those colorful plastic tokens of sober love, as each is a reminder to be proud of the achievement and to keep going…for one more day at a time.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
