The D Word
How Divorce Ended Self-Abandonment and Led to Self-Reclamation
By Dr. Steph Nash, PhD
Why this book exists
For the empaths, intuitives, and loving souls here to bring light to the world.
This book is a wake up call for the beautiful humans who have:
Confused self-sacrifice with purpose
Abandoned themselves for another's convenience
Believed they were only worthy of love through service
D WORD EXCERPT
"When it came time for my parents to walk me down the proverbial aisle, I had a conversation with myself.
I guess you’re doing this. Commit. Be present.
I silenced my primal voice... the one who had visions and fantasies of my wedding descending into a dark feminine plot twist. In this fantasy, instead of walking down the aisle in my pure white, I would stop mid-way, claw my wedding dress off like a feral wolf, barre my teeth, and stand naked and proud in front of my family and his as the wild woman I wanted to be.
I shoved that vision down hard. Not now Steph! Everyone gets cold feet. You want this."
On the surface, this is a gossip-worthy account of an empathic woman's experience of divorce.
But the layers underneath are where the real story of self-reclamation lives.
Author's Note
I wrote this book because I needed it to exist.
I spent years being everything to everyone — and I was very good at it. What I wasn't good at was being myself.
The D Word is the story of what it took to change that.
I wrote it for every woman who has contorted herself into unnatural shapes to keep someone else comfortable... for the empath who has spent so long over-giving that she can no longer locate her own desires beneath the weight of everyone else's needs.
I hope it awakens the wild woman within you.
--Dr. Steph
About The D Word
Tragically funny and unflinchingly honest
The D Word takes you on an intimate journey into the psyche of an empathic woman who begins to question the life she was taught to want. Rooted in the invisible conditioning of religion, family dynamics, and cultural expectations, it is a story of self-abandonment disguised as love — and the slow, uncomfortable realization that sacrificing yourself to be "good," "loving," or "worthy" quietly erodes who you are.
“No one is coming to save you...or live your life for you” — Dr. Steph
Through the backdrop of divorce, this page-turner explores:
How inherited shame distorts love and sexuality
How people pleasing masquerades as devotion
How over-giving inside a marriage can feel like the right thing to do
What Readers Are Saying
"The author doesn't just liberate herself — she liberates other women who have also self-abandoned. A beautiful balance of sharing honestly from lived experience and teaching from a place of humility, revealing cultural conditioning and family modeling."
— Elizabeth Scutchfield'
"Stephanie Nash writes with naked honesty about a subject all women know too well. Her willing vulnerability is dangerously captivating. This book is a must-read as well as a valuable therapy tool for anyone encountering the D word."
— Libby Christianson
"Compelling, real, funny — it feels like fantasy and reality and raw honest hard truth all at once. I was dying to know what comes next for our heroine. Phenomenal, truly."
— Andrea Laxton
"The chapters made me feel very seen as a woman. This is a story of finding love within and having the courage and conviction to fight for it, above all else."
— Merilee Smith
"It reads like a mystery novel — I was on the edge of my seat. I felt it reverberate into something of my own past, especially as an empath who conforms to not cause trouble but inside knows she wants something different."
— Samantha Santiago, PhD
"An engaging, easy read… thought-provoking and SO relatable. It kinda makes you feel like you're learning someone's secrets."
— Dr. Missy Hillock
“I started reading and then couldn’t stop. Wow, the first chapter, the heaviness in the words, but mostly the words behind the words. It's felt, palpable, and so heavy in the chest. You feel that crushing pain of obligation...beautiful.”
— Roberto Giannicola
"Captivating, with great pacing. I usually get lost in large paragraphs but I found this easy to read and impossible to put down."
— Aileen Chou, PhD
"Descriptive, poetic, and truly inspiring. This book conveys the cultural programming so many of us have lived — and shows immense courage to speak up and take care of self."
— Faith Getty
"The reader can really feel the author's seeds of anger and disappointment without sugar coating...and coming from a Christian background, the purity thing is spot on and heavily shaped the dysfunction of so many women."
— Alli Cost
"Powerful. The honesty about self-abandonment, shame conditioning, and the tension between appearance and inner truth deeply resonates — and will for anyone who has had similar experiences."
— Lindsey Best
"The format gives me Carrie Bradshaw vibes in the best way — super personal and easy to get pulled into. Honest, raw, and so relatable. The way this book captures how hard choosing yourself is, and the guilt that comes with it, feels completely real."
— Rhi Katchthaler
"I felt like I was right there... Even without experiencing this exact thing, I could relate to the internal dialogue — that feeling of being pulled between what we think we should want and what we actually desire but are afraid to articulate."
— Jackie Coley
About the Author
Stephanie Nash, PhD, OTR/L is a truth-seeker, spiritual mentor, and mystic. As the founder of Paradigm Expansions, she blends science and spirituality to guide empaths from over-giving to a life of genuine overflow.
Her work is grounded in both traditional and intuitive disciplines — a PhD in rehabilitation science, a master's degree in occupational therapy, a bachelor's degree in special education, a registered yoga teaching certification (RYT 200), and certification as an intuition practitioner (CIP). Her work bridges the clinical and the cosmic in service of deep self-reclamation.
When she is not writing, Stephanie can be found biking through city streets and quiet trails, engaging in soulful conversation, dancing in her kitchen, and exploring the natural world.
She lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with her beloved partner, Byron.
The D Word is her first book.
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