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Making the New Year Our Own

By Pamela Ybanez
Wednesday December 30, 2009 - 08:43:00 AM
Bonsais for sale by the roadside beneath an American flag.
Pamela Ybanez
Bonsais for sale by the roadside beneath an American flag.

Looking back on this year, it has been full to say the least. I took my first ever road trip, solo style across three states. I was proud of myself for refusing to believe (yet again) that women should continue to live in fear. I hear so often, “don’t do this” or “it’s not safe to do that.”  

It was due to my artwork that this trip was instigated, as I was in search of flag imagery. It’s even gotten a name, “Flag Hunting,” which is quite fitting.  

What has been most interesting for me this year is learning to listen to myself and trusting that what I want is OK and will not lead me to harm. Maybe this has been helped by my lack of interest in mainstream media or by having a good supportive network filled with inspiring women or by starting my recent meditative daily practice.  

The one saying that I have been talking smack about all year to my friends is the adage, “If you work hard you’ll get what you want.” 

Bullocks to that, it’s a barefaced lie—don’t believe it. I beg all parents out there to end the spread of such a falsity. For a fuller more complete truth (in my opinion of course) it should also include: You should know what it is you really want, go after it, believe in yourself to achieve it, and with some serious determination, it can happen.  

As the year the closes out and as I continue to get older (I say this with joy and not disdain), the sense that I am getting closer to being the person I intend to be in the world grows stronger.  

Whether we are a Japanese man selling Bonsais by the side of the road or working at a bank or teaching a room full of noisy five-year-olds, this is our life and we can make it as rich as we want it to be. It is still a brave new world.