Exploring the Meaning of Home: Finding Comfort Within

When you think about home, what comes to mind? Do you think of your hometown? College town? Where Mom and Dad are? Where your loved one is? Best friends? Somewhere abroad? Sleepaway camp? A religious space?

To me, this feeling that we call home has simply manifested itself emotionally because I have managed to create a safe haven within, turning a physical place into an internal feeling wherever I go.

At the beginning of this senior year, my mother wrote me a letter…

“With your pen, your books, your thoughts, you can change the world. Persistence, devotion, direction, and inspiration will take you to where you need to be. But remember, no matter where you are, you will always be home. Home is in your heart no matter where you land. Life is about collecting experiences, not stuff. Life goes by fast, spend time with people you love, doing things that you love, that is the true meaning of life. Love you now + always, Mom"

I have kept this letter with me throughout college because 1) it always makes me cry, 2) it's the most accurate paragraph ever and 3) at the beginning of this year, I didn’t know how powerful the statement “home is in your heart no matter where you land” was.

We are taught that a home is a place. In elementary school, they had us drawing houses with our family members titled “home.” We learned that home is where our family is. Home is where we grew up and there is typically only one so-called “home.”

We were also taught the difference between a home and a house but that deserves an entirely other post.

I can’t help but finally begin to understand what it means to call your heart a home. I know I am happiest when I am in touch with my heart, letting my heart guide the way, and surrendering to my heart's desires.

If I'm sensing anything correctly, it's that I am going to be a worldly explorer for quite some time and I can already feel the amount of alone time I will be spending. I know I will be in foreign situations where I will miss this so-called feeling of home. But having this awareness, I know that every single thing I have ever felt was chemically created inside of me. I am the chemical creator of my kingdom.

So as humans and explorers of life, we will get lonely. We will get sad. We will miss Mama's home-cooked chili or Dad’s grilling.

But the other side of this coin shows if we can trust ourselves enough, we can chemically create this sensation of home whether we are in the middle of a jungle, desert, nightclub, or just sitting in a bed pondering “What could have been.”

I never hear people say “Home is where the heart is.”

It takes so much self-trust and courage to say home is where the heart is. But do you know what this really means? You don’t have to go your entire life chasing your heart. Your heart is already in the center of your body stored with the most accessible, ancient, and simplistic knowledge.

But it’s not easy to get there. It’s not easy to take a right on a straight road and start all over again. But, no matter the distance between knowing and not knowing, you’re free. You have control over your life and trusting yourself is a fine place to start.

So, another profound lesson I learned in college is that “Home is in the heart.” Home is right here all the time. It is my base of safety, love, protection, support, and nourishment. It is where I return home to feel the most validated and appreciated.

A meaningful life always returns to the idea of self-love.

Share your thoughts on what "home" means to you in the comments below.

Xoxo,

Chelsey