Why Should You Read This Book?There are many self-help books out there telling you how to think, what to wear and how to behave. Qualified professionals are desperate to give you their views on any subject matter you require guidance on. What's so special about me? I'm just a regular person. I don't have letters after my name or a rags to riches story, so why should you bother reading this book?After having a dysfunctional childhood, and self-destructive young adulthood, I broke away from my past and created a much brighter future. Rather than just talk about my children never having to experience what I went through myself (like my parents did) I worked damn hard to ensure it was the case. Throughout this book I will share personal stories from my life and insights on how I overcame the many obstacles I have faced over the years.I'll tell you how I broke the cycle of dysfunction, and hopefully it will inspire you to go off and do the same. Getting passed my past wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible. I promise not to talk about things that I have no personal experience of, and I won't pretend to have all the answers. But I might just have the ones you are looking for.If you can identify with this list of demons I had to conquer, this book is for you - Raised by parents who had dysfunctional childhoods and subsequently had one myself- Moved house lots and went to many schools- Suffered bullying in several schools- Suffered sexual abuse as a child- Left home at a very young age after not finishing school- Struggled with depression- Got into a lot of debt- Had very little self-respect- Used to sleep around- Abused drugs and alcohol- Put myself into unnecessary, dangerous situationsWhat do I hope you will achieve by reading this book?- The ability to make peace with your past- The ability to look in the mirror and like what you see- The ability to find your inner strength and start respecting yourself- The courage to re-define the rules of relationships that have become toxic- The courage to cut ties with people who make you miserable- The courage to break the cycle, keep it broken and become the best youWhat this book doesn't do: - Use overly complicated words or examples that are difficult to understand- Go into minute detail telling you exactly what to do- Patronise you and assume that you aren't capable of turning your life aroundWho is Renee Davis? Direct excerpt from the about me chapter: "I was mostly 'dragged up'. After her own unhappy childhood, my mother had a baby (me) aged 18 because she wanted someone to love her. By the time she was 25, she had three kids. I had a different father to my siblings but she felt it was best to tell me their dad was also mine. The official lie was that he was in prison when I was born, explaining why he wasn't on my birth certificate. Growing up, it was obvious that he didn't love me as much as he did the other two, but I wasn't told the truth until after I had left home. Turns out my biological father was engaged to his current wife when he got my mother pregnant. To this day his wife does not know I exist.My step-father had a horrendous childhood. His mother died when he was two, and he was shown very little love when he was younger. It's not surprising that he was a cold man. That he turned to crime. That he was an alcoholic, manic depressive and emotional bully. I remember being at my Grandma's house one day when I was seven or eight years old, and having to go out to daddy's car and say goodbye because he was going to kill himself. He had a massive gun in the passenger seat and had drank so much he was paralytic. Although he didn't go through with it, that day haunted me for years.He and my mother had a strange relationship. They only lived together as a couple for five years from when I was eleven, and split for good after that. I viewed him as a man of mystery throughout my entire childhood."