From Pain to Power:A Journey of Becoming Unstoppable

Oct 1
3 min read

By Debbie DeMarco Bennett, MA

There was a time in my life when the chaos felt endless. I’d just lost yet another job, another chance, another version of a life I couldn’t seem to hold onto. My partner at the time, the most stable relationship I’d managed up to that point, and a close friend, gently told me they couldn’t keep watching me self-destruct. “Please get help,” they said. “We can’t keep doing this.”

I was devastated. Hopeless. Terrified.

I had gotten help. Years of therapy. Hospital stays. Endless efforts. And still... I felt like a lost cause.

What I couldn’t see then, in the middle of the spiral, was that this would become my turning point. That heartbreak, that moment of rupture, would become the crack where the light got in.

I entered an Intensive Outpatient Program. Same clinic, same therapist, same psychiatrist. But something shifted. I decided to be radically honest, to share the thoughts I was most ashamed of, the symptoms I feared made me “too much.” And it changed everything.

My psychiatrist gently explained that what I was describing: the disorientation, the sense of not knowing who I really was…was called “identity disturbance.” It was one of the criteria for borderline personality disorder. She went on to assess me for the others. I remember the moment she said, “There’s a treatment that works. It’s called DBT. Dialectical Behavior Therapy. We offer it here.”

Hope cracked through my despair.

Wait… other people feel like this too? There’s a name for it? A path forward?

I committed. I went to every DBT group. Took notes. Did homework. Showed up, even when it hurt. I also started practicing yoga and somatic movement, meditating, and reconnecting with my own inner wisdom. For the first time, I didn’t give up at the six-month mark — the point I usually spiraled. Something in me knew… this was different.

Three years later, I no longer met the criteria for BPD.

That was in 2013.

I’ve been in recovery ever since.

The same year, I founded DBT Path, an online school for emotionally sensitive people like me who were searching for hope, tools, and real connection. At the time, no such resource existed.

I wanted to be the support I had once needed, someone who gets it, who walks with you, not above you. Since then, alongside an amazing team of caring people, we’ve helped thousands of sensitive souls around the world. Our next class starts soon at emotionallysensitive.com.

What we offer is different. We’re peer-led, trauma-informed, and heart-led. I share my story when it helps someone feel less alone on their own. I remind my students, again and again, that their sensitivity is not a flaw. It’s their superpower.

To me, being unstoppable doesn’t mean never breaking down. It means learning how to break open and finding your strength in the softness. It means knowing how to validate yourself. To rest without quitting. To rise with self-compassion.

If I could speak to the version of me who nearly gave up, I’d say:

“Please hold on. One day, you’ll turn this pain into purpose. You’ll help others find their light, too. You’ll even create a life that feels safe, full of love, and deeply meaningful. Just keep going.”

Twelve years later, I’ve built a beautiful life…a thriving business, a supportive marriage, a cozy home filled with cats and laughter. I know who I am now, and I believe in my strength.

This is what healing can look like.

This is what becoming unstoppable feels like.

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