Leaving behind his dark past
'The turn around point for me was when my five-year-old son kept asking me what was wrong with me.'
Marvin Stellenberg, 31, started to use drugs about five years ago.
Since then his life has spiraled out of control with him losing almost everything. Stellenberg turned his life around on 24 December and is now drug-free for almost three months.
Before, his life was filled with drug use, lies, deceit, loss and hurt. Stellenberg used Cat, crystal meth and Mandrax. Initially he only sold the drugs but didn’t use it.
“Life was good, there was money and plenty of parties. One day I decided to try it and got hooked.
In the beginning it was fun; it didn’t have bad effects on my life. But soon I started getting behind at work, I was off a lot, was late for work and eventually I lost my job,” he said.
After losing his job, Stellenberg still had his car and other luxuries. He stopped selling drugs, because he was more interested in getting high off his own supplies.
He started selling his belongings for drugs and also lost his car.
“Drugs makes you selfish and narrow-minded, only worrying about getting your next hit. The worst part was all the lies I told my family and girlfriend. I would use their money, even withdraw money from my girlfriend’s bank account. This tore apart my mother and relationships,” Stellenberg said.
He said he did not care about how he looked, personal hygiene and he hardly slept. He lost his appetite and lost a lot of weight.
He acted strange, hallucinated and became very paranoid. He even was admitted to hospital three times.
With tears in his eyes, Stellenberg said, “The turnaround point for me was when my five-year-old son kept asking me what was wrong with me.”
He decided to seek help from Westville Clinic in Toekomsrus where he started seeing a therapist for counselling. He mentioned Uncle Bennie Coetzee as a great help to him through his daily prayers and conversations with him. He now prays every day and said he surrounds himself with positive, godly people and no longer mingles with friends from his dark past.
I thank God for helping me get through this and also my family and Rashida Abrahams from the clinic. It helps to have somebody to talk to.”
Stellenberg regularly tells his story, hoping it can help others in the same situation. Stellenberg urges anybody who struggles with addiction, to call him on 074 640 6265.
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