Reflections on 2021: Traveling Through Truth and Fearlessness

I looked through my photos for the best picture to capture 2021, and although there were many pictures taken on my road trips, Pike Place Market’s endearing busker, Accordion Cat getting back to work depicts the return to every day life we experienced, and represents the world opening up again with travel and the surprises we find as we turn new corners. The journeys throughout 2021 have all involved turning new corners for me, and learning new lessons. I’d like to reflect with you, dear Readers, on the most important ones.

Breaking your assumptions involves breaking out of your comfort zone. June 2021.
I spent the past six months processing my trip to Paso Robles. It was a life-changing trip where I abandoned a deep-rooted fear of facing premonitions and deciphering between true premonitions and fear. Months later, I’m still traveling emotionally to the places Paso Robles had me journey to, but one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned was to get uncomfortable. For me, that involved walking into a store that sold nothing but Western attire.

Boot Barn…kind of (really) amazing

Now don’t get me wrong. Nothing about barns and Western lifestyle gets me uncomfortable. Quite the contrary for this city girl who adores farms and farm life. The discomfort was thinking I would stand out as a city girl who adores farms and farm life! I didn’t think a gal like myself had the “right” to buy a “Western hat.” Ok, I wanted to say “cowgirl hat.” That’s the city girl in me wanting to be blunt. I didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb and look like some gal from San Francisco visiting Paso Robles for the first time trying out a cowgirl hat. There. I said it.

I didn’t have to worry the minute I stepped into Boot Barn. Although I wore my denim all wrong (a jean jacket and jeans with no boots and no belt), nobody batted an eye. The stylish Cheyenne (even her name is cool) helped me pick out an amazing hat that cost a pretty penny and was worth every pretty penny of it. I picked out the biggest metal belt a lady can wear and wore it right out of the store, along with my hat, and didn’t care that the temperature in Paso Robles that day was 85 degrees. I walked in that store self-conscious and walked out a confident American lady proud of the many people I encountered from all over the world shopping alongside me who could rock a cowboy/cowgirl hat. Nobody cared where I came from, just like I didn’t care where they came from. I was confident. Also, I looked pretty.

big hair, my favorite hat

Speak up. July 2021.
Years ago, an older gentleman on the Muni platform stood in front of me and spoke random words, or maybe he was meant to say them. He said “If you don’t speak up, you might as well be dead.” I nodded and said “yes, Sir.” Those words were a powerful motivator for my Black-owned business blog and the catalyst for supporting the Asian-American community around me. A trip to San Francisco’s Chinatown neighborhood one night in July illuminated a fierce memorial to legend Bruce Lee. No fear. Words cannot express the happiness I felt when looking at that mural thinking how lucky I was to be living amongst the people who built this city. I knew I had to lend my voice and my support to the AAPI community and attended a rally at City Hall this summer sponsored by the empowering advocacy group, Asians Are Strong. I was saddened to see only a small number of non-AAPI members like myself showing support. Regardless, if it wasn’t for my evening wanderlust through one of Anthony Bourdain’s favorite Chinatowns, I wouldn’t have spotted the majestic Bruce Lee mural nor been inspired to action.

that dragon though ❤️

Be your authentic self. August 2021.
There’s nothing like stumbling into an empty corner of Pike Place Market with all the time in the world, a Ghost Alley Espresso drink in hand, and then spotting a life-sized cat playing the accordion (he’s on the IG @accordioncat)!

I’ve taken quite a liking to Accordion Cat for many reasons, one being the sheer authenticity of this endearing busker, from the plaid outfit to the discreet position in a random corner of the market. Accordion Cat and I have a lot in common, despite the fact that I can’t play an instrument aside from the 3rd grade plastic flutophone. I’ve been writing for decades, and I’m sure this famous Cat has been playing for decades. We love what we do, and we work hard at it. Most of all, we make our art in the places we love. There are many buskers in Pike Place Market and all over the world, but there’s really only one Accordion Cat at Pike Place Market.

the coolest cat around

Begin. All Day Every Day.

What I learned this year starting out as a freelance writer/editor is that your life is never going to just “happen” when you suddenly get what you think are credentials. You’re never going to wake up one day in the thick of it all and think: “Today I’m an editor! I think today is the day I will write for Oprah” (or insert random goal). It won’t happen like that. The day you’ll find yourself living your dream is going to feel much like the day you took your first step towards it. You just begin. This is going to involve a Matt Damon quote from The Martian:

“You just begin. You solve one problem, then you solve another.”

You just…begin.

Keep at it, even if it starts with a hand-stamped business card. Keep stamping, one crooked letter at a time, until it’s something that people want in their hands because they like something about you, because you write about the things they talk about with their closest friends.

Begin.

Home is Everywhere. Everywhere is home. September 2021.
I’ve always compartmentalized places in my life. San Francisco is this. New Jersey is that. Beirut is, well, Beirut. I never merged my places together because I never thought I could. On a walk one night this September visiting New Jersey, my first home, I stumbled upon a huge mural of Jimi Hendrix inside of Jax Chop Shop and stood there, mouth open, staring under the bright street light. Silly girl, I thought. You really thought he was just on Haight Street, didn’t you? Something shifted in my mind that night. Bits and pieces of what I love in life are EVERYWHERE. My little home state isn’t a little home state. Creativity, art, and life live there, and always have.

I find it necessary here to mention the troubling sentiment some hold regarding local vs foreign travel. Nobody can argue that international travel opens the mind. This is known. But it is no less glamorous and enlightening to discover a home-cooked meal from a mom and pop restaurant near your home owned by hard-working folks than discovering a home-cooked meal from a mom and pop eatery overseas. To say otherwise truly is a disservice to diversity and to the numerous businesses near you run by people from all over the world. It’s never been about the distance.

One of my favorite food vloggers, Mark Wiens, has traveled the world one dish at a time and knows the value of experiencing diverse foods and people. He’s eaten street food in every country, including my mother’s Beirut, and this wonderful man would recognize similar experiences of hospitality if he were to dine at any discreet mom and pop eatery in the States.

Home is everywhere, and everywhere is home.

Jax Chop Shop, New Jersey

Learn to let go and be fearless. September 2021.
Find a picture of yourself at a young age when you looked like you didn’t give a damn about what anyone thought. Frame it. Hang it near your desk.

Sure I could leave you with a bad-ass quote about fearlessness that motivated me, but this hit me harder: when visiting family this September on the east coast, I found a picture of my 5-year-old self posing on the beach in a bright pink bathing suit with my arms out in the air and a smile from ear to ear. I didn’t take the picture back with me.

I want to be her again.

A lot of people have tried to hold me back from pursuing opportunities because I should “know my place.” That’s one thing the pandemic has taught me to do: stop asking for permission to do anything anyone else can do. Five-year-old Lisamarie would never have cared if she was chubby in her bathing suit, or if you didn’t like her story, or if you didn’t like her. She would have given you a big hug and laughed and said “you’re funny!”

Then, she’d ignore you and keep doing what she was doing.

If you’re surrounded by people who constantly knock your dreams, find new people.

Be truthful. Be fearless. Ignore people who hold you back. Bring it on, 2022.

Ignore the haters.