From riches to drug hell to hiking author
TRADING in his luxurious home, sports car and R100 000-a-month salary in search of fulfilment and inner peace following substance addiction, an East London-born manturnednow spends four months of the year hiking through the Himalayas.
While Marc Schroeder, 39, may have had it all in his fast-paced, money-driven lifestyle, he gave it up after battling depression and a drug addiction for more than 10 years.
Schroeder, who was afforded a quality education – matriculating from Selborne College in 1996 and going on to obtain a BCom honours degree in economics from Rhodes University – details his hardships in his debut novel, Sleeping with Dogs: A Tale of Madness.
The self-published book will be released next month and is dedicated to his three dogs he had to give up for adoption which, he said, was the hardest thing he faced during his downward spiral.
“I got a job in finance and made loads of money and ticked all the boxes for the suburban life, but I became severely depressed.
Schroeder said the turning point in his life came about at his brother’s birthday party in Johannesburg about two years ago when the amount of alcohol and drugs he became accustomed to, caught up with him.
“We were drinking shooters and this one neat shot of vodka had me coughing up blood. Something told me to go to India because if I continued this lifestyle, I was afraid I would not see my forties.”
He resigned from his job as financial adviser and four months later, he went on a pilgrimage in India where he met a local tour guide and started the Kashmir Trekking Company.
He decided to write his novel in the hope that the book could inspire others to step out of their comfort zone and chase their own happiness.