Recovery from addiction requires new thinking and a renewed approach to life. So, for the majority of people in recovery, the best insurance against relapse is a new regimen. Usually a 12 step recovery program or maybe the newer SMART recovery program, or in this case a 12 million step recovery program.
What is the 12 Million Step Recovery Program?
The Washington Post’s elegantly wrote about the road taken out of a crystal meth addiction by Walter Barrera, a Washington DC resident. Barrera once lived in Northwest DC, the section of the city that generated the phrase “murder capital” in the 1990’s. Barrera discarded the pockmarked baton of a crack cocaine and crystal meth addiction to pick-up a new baton devoted to winning a 50-mile race and even training for a 100-mile race. The Washington Post’s offers readers an ambitious, in-depth step-by-step account of the strides Walter Barrera took before running any 50k or 100k races. He was addicted to those two substances until one day when we went for a run and turned that into his 12 million step recovery program.
Soon he was running marathons, but eventually, that wasn’t enough. Barrera ran a 50-mile race and then three months later—when the rain held off often enough when his legs stopped sending pain through his body, and his old life spared his new one of surprises, such as a jail term—he ran a 100-mile race in the mountains of Colorado.
Addictive Behaviors
Understanding the body is difficult, but explaining the mind is impossible. Some who work in drug rehabilitation suggest that many people have a predisposition to addiction. Something causes an itch in the brain that must continually be scratched. Some think there are healthier dependencies than others, including exercise. Others believe that any unchecked addiction is destructive, no matter the activity. Naming the 12 million step recovery program was the way to label his substitute and then to recover by running.
So Walter Barerra substituted the high of his drugs. He now uses running as his high with his 12 million step recovery program. Let Morningside Recovery help you find a way to personalize your recovery program and recover from your addiction and addictive behaviors, starting with detox. Call one of our addiction specialists at 855-631-2135 to find out how.
