I never wanted to use the word toxic for some of the people in my life. It sounded too harsh, even cruel. I pushed through my teenage years into adulthood and found myself making excuses for the behaviour of others: They were going through a rough time, or they had suffered in the past. But it wasn't their fault and I just needed to be more understanding and helpful. Does this sound familiar?

Before you know it, you have lost who you really are. You have changed in order to make the lives of others better but in the process, you have lost a massive part of yourself. Even to the point where you look in the mirror and can't identify with the reflection. You may have woken up a few times and convinced yourself that today was going to be different. You wouldn't have people getting angry at you for no reason, ignoring your needs, or manipulating you. It probably didn't take long for these people to drain you of your positivity and you have now reached a stage where you have accepted that this is the way life is going to be. Perhaps you are punishing yourself for mistakes you have made in the past, and you now feel that this is the life you deserve.

"When a toxic person can no longer control you, they will control how others see you. The misinformation will feel unfair, but stay above it, trusting that other people will eventually see the truth just like you did."

The sad fact is that there are an awful lot of toxic people in the world. They are in your workplace, your supermarket, online, and even in your family. It seems we can't escape them, despite retreating from the world as much as we can. The only thing that we can do is learn the right way to handle them — to regain control so that we can live our life the way we should, the way we want to, and the way that makes us happy. To do this, we have to start at the very beginning. By looking at ourselves and the paths we took to get to where we are today. Once we have peeled back all the layers of pain, we will look at the different ways that toxic people present themselves.

You will have the techniques to cope with toxicity in various relationships and situations and it will be time to learn how to enjoy a life with stronger relationships, goals, and a healthier mind and body. It took me a long time to recognize that I had far too many toxic people in my life. I was not blessed with loving parents who taught me what healthy relationships looked like.

Going from rock bottom to happy was the best thing I have done, and it changed every aspect of my life. It gave me the confidence to want to help other people. Which is where we are today. I hope to share with you all of the strategies for dealing with toxic people that I have used so that you can experience the same amazing change that I did. I don't think it's fair that anyone should have to put up with toxic people or settle for relationships that are not equal and loving. And I think that in a world that has so much negativity, we all need some help to see the good and get back on the right path. Each step will be presented in an easy-to-follow manner. But, that's not to say the process will be easy, or you wouldn't need to read this book. That being said, we will take a closer look at the bigger challenges and what we can do to overcome any setbacks along the way. Don't worry, we will try and have some fun too and we will ease into things by understanding exactly why there are toxic people in our lives.

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