#111 – Lynn Walker: Midnight Calling

#111 – Lynn Walker: Midnight Calling

How do people turn their lives around after addiction? This Recovery Survey conversation with author Lynn Walker offers a raw look at just that, through the lens of family, cocaine, and long-term sobriety. Lynn talks about growing up in what seemed like an idyllic 1970s Miami childhood as the daughter of a proud undercover narcotics agent, only for her world to flip when her dad vanished overnight and later reappeared as a convicted smuggler.

As she explains, that early shock left her with a constant sense that "something really bad was going to happen"—until the first time she got high and, in her words, "I felt like something really good was about to happen. And that was it, man. I started chasing that at any cost." Host Brett Morris, whose own dad worked undercover, relates strongly to the twists in Lynn’s story, including the eerie parallels between their families.

Together they talk about addiction as a "total family disease," how unlimited access to cocaine with her father pushed Lynn to rock bottom, and why some people don’t make it out. The episode doesn’t shy away from the darkness—paranoia, juvenile detention, near-death chaos—but it also spends serious time on what 27 years of continuous recovery looks like.

Lynn shares the simple habits that keep her sober: regular 12-step meetings, helping other women in recovery, daily prayer and moments of quiet, and the vital act of "telling on herself" whenever thoughts of using creep in. This conversation is especially useful if you’re in recovery, new to it, or part of a family shaped by addiction.

It’s honest, occasionally funny in that "if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry" way, and full of reminders that connection really can keep you alive. What parts of your story would you risk sharing if it meant helping someone else stay clean one more day?