Why Divine
- Katherine Tatsuda
- Feb 23
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 23
February 23, 2026
Have you ever struggled with your self-worth?
Your belief in yourself.
Your self-love.
Your self-respect.
I have.
Basically my entire life.
When Tatsuda’s was still open, my assistant manager once told me that someone had said I didn’t have any self-esteem.
She and I were close.
She told me she responded,
“You know her history, don’t you? That’s why.”
They were both right.
A lifetime of accumulated things — stacked and stacked and stacked — created a version of me who didn’t believe in herself.
Who thought she was fundamentally broken.
Who felt small.
Undeserving.
Who stayed in wildly unhealthy relationships with people who mistreated her.
Who worked hard to please, to achieve, to belong.
Who thought she had to be perfect.
I knew I wanted more.
I knew I was smart. Capable. Deserving.
But knowing and choosing are two very different things.
I started my personal development journey in my early twenties.
Breaking patterns.
Studying.
Trying to become my “best self.”
It has taken decades to build the woman who exists today.
And self-love, self-esteem, self-respect?
Those have been the slowest rewrites of all.
They are wired deep.
And we live in a culture that doesn’t exactly encourage loud self-worth.
Claim your value and someone whispers,
“Oh, she thinks she’s better than us.”
Stand tall and someone mutters,
“She’s egotistical.”
Who does she think she is?
Add to that the relentless messaging aimed at women:
This product will fix what’s wrong with you.
This cream will erase it.
This program will shrink it.
This man will complete it.
There is always something to repair.
I thought I had made huge progress in self-respect when I entered my last relationship.
What it became was the largest mirror I have ever stood in front of.
Yes, I had come a long way.
But when I look back at some of the outrageous things I tolerated?
I am stunned.
Disgusted, even.
So much that I cannot write about them yet.
I am still soothing that wound in real time.
Not because I am cruel to myself — but because I see clearly now what I once allowed. What I accepted in the name of love, being chosen, for connection.
So instead of looking away from the mirror…
I am leaning in.
I am intentionally rewiring my brain.
When I say I am Divine,
I am not claiming godhood.
I am not claiming superiority.
I am claiming inherent worth.
That my existence — simply because it exists — is worthy of beauty, abundance, happiness, joy, healthy reciprocal love, integrity.
When I say I am celestial,
I do not mean I am literally streaking across galaxies.
I mean my life can be bigger than the smallness I once accepted.
My choices can be expansive.
My standards can be higher.
My love can be clean.
My presence can be luminous.
And when I say,
He lost me.
I am not centering him.
I am centering what I bring.
The goodness.
The devotion.
The leadership.
The sweetness and the intimacy.
The love.
Why Divine?
Because small didn’t protect me.
Because shrinking didn’t save me.
Because humility twisted into self-erasure kept me trapped.
Divine reminds me of who I truly am.
And now?
I choose differently.
