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Dedication
This book is dedicated to my beautiful family; Andy,
Polly, Clara and Freddy. Without you, I am nothing.
Rene Davis
Become The
BestYou
Make Peace with the Past
and Break the Cycle of Dysfunction
Contents
Introduction
Why Should You Read this Book?...........................................11
Chapter One
The Cycle of Dysfunction........................................................ 14
Chapter Two
A Little about Me.....................................................................22
Chapter Three
Respect Yourself...................................................................... 33
Chapter Four
Take Responsibility................................................................. 41
Chapter Five
Find Your Inner Strength....................................................... 51
Chapter Six
Form Lifelong Good Habits.................................................... 61
Chapter Seven
Redefine the Rules................................................................... 79
Chapter Eight
Call Time on Toxic Relationships........................................... 91
Chapter Nine
If You Dont Like It, Change It...............................................98
Afterword
Some Closing Thoughts........................................................ 104
Introduction
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13
Chapter One
grieved for her husband and threw herself into her job,
the six of them were largely left to their own devices and
brought each other up.
My mother and her siblings are classic examples of a
dysfunctional upbringing. As adults, the four women
chose their men badly and suffered affairs, violence,
emotional abuse and loneliness. Although the men
chose their partners well, they both had their fair share
of issues. All six had two or three children each, and the
last time I saw any of my cousins it was clear that we
were all (in some way or other) still reeling from what we
had gone through. None of us were spared our parents
dysfunctions.
My mother was deeply affected by her childhood and she
emerged from it knowing that she wanted a better start
for her own children. There was no way she would go out
to work all hours leaving her family behind once she was
a mum. She wanted a family desperately and felt that
constantly being present would be enough to ensure her
kids grew up happy. Unfortunately, the reality couldnt
have been further from what she intended.
Rather than dealing with the past, healing herself and
gaining some life experience, she rushed into having
a baby with my biological father when she was 18. A
man who abandoned her to marry the woman he was
engaged to throughout their brief affair. She then did
the exact same thing less than two years later with my
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