Running to or from Recovery?

Are you Running to or from Recovery? 

I started actively pounding the pavement and running about 10 years ago.

Truth be told, I have always been “a runner”. 

Before I became sober, I ran from emotions, responsibilities and healthy family and friends.  Now that I am in Recovery, I have learned to recognize and process my emotions; accept responsibilities and accept my part; and cultivate relationships that are healthy with family and friends. 

Personally, once I started pounding the pavement, my mental psych started to clear and I could actually put ideas and thoughts together. I could also rationalize my problematic thoughts and stop the future tripping that goes on inside this brain as well.  

I recognize I get squirrely if I have not exercised in a few days. I recognize character defects start appearing when I neglect my Recovery.

Yes, stopping the drug and drinking is important for our sobriety, but those are just the symptoms of what the real issues are. 

This is where the hard but so worth it work begins…

Getting healthy after abusing our body with addiction is a struggle in the beginning for most of us. 

I recall many times in my active addiction of hiring a personal trainer and then not showing up ½ the time.

I didn't care.

I would be hungover from the night before’s few bottles of wine or pint of liquor, and drugs at times. I would feel like crap. I would scramble for an excuse and call (praying my trainer wouldn't answer the phone) so I could leave a message. He stopped actually picking up the phone after a while when I would call, and told me a few years later he knew what I was doing.

I believe our bodies are a temple and a gift from God.

We are to take care of them.

When we are given another chance to live and be sober it is up to us to handle our body, mind and soul with kid gloves. 

For most of us in early recovery, we find we want to eat everything with sugar in it.

From the bread to the swedish fish candy to the cake and pizza rolls, it's our bodies way of craving and subconsciously replacing the “feel good” brain receptors in our body that we got when we would drink and/or drug. 

Similar to the “Freshman 15” the weight students may gain their freshman year of college, this rings to be true when we go to detox. 

There is a lot involved when we decide to explore a recovery lifestyle. I have been told my medical professionals that the repairing of our body and organs can take up to 2 years.  

Scary huh?  

I was scared in the beginning because I wanted everything to be right, not right now, but last week.  Self disclosure: instant gratification is a character defect that rears its ugly head sometimes. 

I am a work in progress, thank you Lord. 

Our lives can be defined as the race of a lifetime.  One that is not accomplished in a 5, 6 or 13.1 K race, but a true marathon every year we stay sober. 

Training for a marathon is not just a one time deal. It consists of daily discipline, training, endurance and perseverance.  

Training for a marathon is about eating right, doing the proper exercises, and building up endurance timing.

Training for daily sobriety is about meditation, meetings, therapy which can be one on one or group, and helping others out.

When we make the decision to train for a marathon, more than likely we will make a visit to our doctor to see if we are physically prepared for it.  When we make the decision to choose sobriety, it  may mean we spend anywhere from 3-10 days in medical stabilization(detox) to help us physically jump start this new way of life. 

For the next 30-90 days so many changes will take place in training for that marathon. New skills, regimented schedule, and we will actually see changes in ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually. When getting sober, the first 90 days come with huge changes as well. Physically, mentally and spiritually. Whether we choose inpatient, outpatient or meetings, the first 90 days are very critical. This is where the fog starts to lift in our brain, clarity, fear of “Real” emotions, and our body more so the brain is are trying to fight the changes all the way around. 

Both a marathon and sobriety will change us in every way we can imagine. Both will produce POSITIVE changes, they will each take diligence and commitment from our inner self. 

The beauty in both is there is always a positive outcome. 

It is very important to remember you have no competition except for self and if you follow instructions on how to do both,

YOU will succeed.

Running towards Recovery is not always easy, but at the end of the daily finish line, You will not regret what you started!

(Picture was from my 1st 1/2 Marathon 2017)