Yesterday, Kabelo Mabalane announced on his instagram that he has been sober for close on two decades!

The self-proclaimed pantsula for life checked himself into rehab 17 years ago after years of struggling with a drug addiction that almost led to his demise.

Fortunately, he’s lived to tell the tale of overcoming addiction, and in his memoir, I ran for my life: My story, Bouga Luv reflected on his dark past, sharing valuable lessons he learned while in rehab.

To celebrate his milestone, we’ve rounded up three quotes about dealing with addiction from his book. 

1. Be honest with yourself

“Admit that you are powerless over your addiction and that your life has become unmanageable.

“It required real bravery to go through that process [rehabilitation]. I actually understand why a lot of people stay the way they are.”

2. Reflect on the lows you experienced during ‘the high’

“Write your own life story. See what kind of a prick you actually were. You have to travel down that road, start writing down all this stuff.

"For me, that is part of what spurs an addict on to sobriety: jeez, I did that? I didn’t sign up to be this person.”

3. Surround yourself with people who are honest with you 

“I had always had ‘yes people’ surrounding me – there were very few people who challenged who I was, or what I did.

For the first time in my life that I could remember, there were all these people in this room, and they were all telling me where to get off. It was the first time that the penny dropped: that I had come there to change.

They didn’t just tell me what they thought about my behaviour. People told me how I made them feel. Nobody with a conscience would want to give off what I was giving off. And that’s when I started putting in the work.”

I ran for my life is available at leading bookstores nationwide and it is priced between R146 to R149.