After years of addiction, violence, and survival, Arend Pechawis found healing through honesty and self-reflection. From gunpoint to gratitude — this is his story of transformation.

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When Arend was pistol-whipped during a drug deal gone wrong, it wasn’t the first time he’d stared down a gun. But it was one of the moments that forced him to look at what his life had become.

Raised by a single mother in a home marked by violence and survival, Arend grew up watching abuse, bouncing between cities, and learning early how to hide pain. By grade seven, he was drinking at school — chasing the same numbness that had destroyed generations before him.

As addiction took hold, Arend hustled, dealt cocaine, and was nearly killed more than once. But it wasn’t until his father died — and he watched someone overdose beside the hospital bed — that the reality of addiction hit home.

Now more than a decade sober, Arend speaks openly about trauma, accountability, forgiveness, and the hard truth that healing doesn’t happen when we blame others. It begins when we finally look inward.

This is the story of a man who turned pain into purpose — and learned that real strength means allowing yourself to feel.

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