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I Turned A Corner Today

  • Writer: Katherine Tatsuda
    Katherine Tatsuda
  • Sep 1
  • 2 min read


A smiling woman with long dark hair and glowing skin sits on a couch in a sunlit room. She wears a white tank top and delicate necklace, her arm gently crossed over her chest. She looks directly at the camera with warmth, strength, and a peaceful presence. A colorful painting and scattered books are visible in the soft-focus background
Me today. Feeling free.

September 1, 2025


Today has been the best day I’ve had in a long time.

Not because everything is suddenly easy or resolved.

But because something in me,

something deep and steady, has shifted.


For over a year, I have been in survival mode.

Holding everything together. Carrying responsibilities that would break most people. Navigating grief, betrayal, leadership, heartbreak, and the slow-motion unraveling of things I once counted on.




My energy has been spent on seemingly non-stop school board crises, emotional landmines, legal chaos, political fallout, and holding the line for everyone around me.


But today, something gave.


For the first time in a very long time, I didn’t feel weighted down by the past. I wasn’t trapped in what was or bracing for what might come.


Instead, I felt energized by what’s possible.


My body felt light. My mind clear.

My executive function, so long used in service of everyone else’s needs,

showed up fully—for me.


I made progress today. I created order.

I moved things forward that matter to my future.

I saw the fruit of hard choices beginning to bloom.


Because the truth is, I’ve made some big decisions lately.

I stepped away from a career that no longer served me.

I’m in the process of shedding lifelong responsibilities that were handed to me before I knew I had a choice.


I’m reclaiming time, space, and clarity—

and I’m doing it for the version of me who has always deserved that freedom.


There’s still a long road ahead. But something is different now.

The fog has thinned. The weight has lifted.


Today, I turned a corner.

I see my future,

And it inspires me.

Katherine Tatsuda

Author | Poet | Human

Based in Ketchikan, Alaska

© 2025 Katherine Tatsuda | All Rights Reserved 

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