As the pandemic winds down and people try to quit the drinking habits that may have crept up on them, the "soberversary" is emerging as a new holiday-esque milestone — complete with greeting cards, cheekily-worded coffee mugs and a growing social media presence.

Why it matters: Getting sober and staying sober are significant achievements that too many people feel compelled to hide because of the ongoing stigma of alcohol addiction.

The concept of a "sober birthday" or sobriety anniversary is nearly as old as the 12-step meeting, but the popularization of a catchy neologism — soberversary — is a meaningful cultural watershed.

Driving the news: Younger people accustomed to living their lives out loud are shedding the "anonymity" precept of Alcoholics Anonymous and posting proud pictures of their "soberversary" celebrations — and older people are joining in as well.

Celebrities are lending momentum: Supermodel Chrissy Teigen marked her first soberversary in July with a lengthy Instagram post.

Backstory: AA has a system of chips, key tags and medallions awarded to people in honor of various sobriety milestones, a tradition it traces back to the fellowship's earliest days.

And soberversaries have emerged as a cause for poignant — if not public — celebration. "These commemorative events can mark sobriety of 100 days, 300 days, a year or any time period that is relevant to you and your life," according to Sober Living America, which runs addiction recovery programs.

The bottom line: A soberversary is a distinctly modern type of celebration, one that connotes a sort of gravid joy that can only hint at the struggles and anguish preceding it.

"This is a good counterbalance" to all the bad news about drug and alcohol abuse, Kirst said. "On the one hand, you're seeing how dangerous certain substances are and the dark side of addiction, but then you're also getting messaging about people who have overcome."