Home is a term that can hold such a variety of meanings for different people that it can be hard to establish just one definition. I feel that during childhood, we are taught the basic sense of home as being the house where you live, and I remember as a child not questioning this notion as I didn’t know to look anywhere else to find my own definition of what home is or should be. In the past few years, I have arrived at the conclusion that my sense of the concept of home is based on the idea that my home is not a physical house or location, but rather a combination of the people and experiences that have influenced me throughout my life that I carry within me. I think we can all carry this notion of home wherever we are, so that we don’t have to be in just one place to feel that we are home. For me, what I value the most is the people I share my life with and learn from and the experiences that help me grow and give me joy, which can all be encapsulated by my notion of home.
Since so many people move away from their hometown and build their lives elsewhere, I don’t see moving away as being equivalent to leaving your home. I think this notion is highlighted really well in a video which shows a montage of a man’s experience travelling for 3 years around the world. He ends the video with the quote “we call this home” interposed between several images of the cities he visited, meaning that he considers the whole world to be his home. I have felt this while travelling as well, such as when I went to Europe for the first time with my parents. During our travels, despite the constant change of going from city to city and staying in hotels and with family, I still felt connected to home because I was doing something I love with the people I love. In fact, I think I felt an even deeper connection to home because it was the first time I realized that I was not as happy in Canada as I felt in Europe. Because my sense of home exists within me, I realized that no matter where I go I will always carry my memories, experiences and connections to the most important people in my life with me, which gives me the freedom to discover new experiences and places in the world without feeling like I am leaving behind a “home” but rather creating my own.
I think that another important reason why I don’t see home as being a physical house or location is because nobody is able to choose the place they are brought home to when we first enter the world, as this is chosen for us by someone else, whether that is our parents or guardians or anyone else who may be in our lives when we are born. I think everyone deserves the opportunity to create their own sense of home, rather than being restricted to the house or situation they were brought home to without a choice. If everyone can create their own definition of home, I think it enables more freedom to develop our own criteria for happiness and security, rather than being subject to the more basic definitions of what a home should be. Everyone has different values and beliefs, so it makes sense that each unique individual should formulate their own sense of home.
Works Cited:
Chang, Walter. “We Call This Home – 3 Years Around the World Travel.” Youtube, 28 July 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioYqFtr2D0Q.
“Home.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/home.
Selfors, Caroline. “Pile of luggage.” Unsplash, https://unsplash.com/photos/r2jpr8MDw0I.
Sousa, Hugo. “White and red concrete house.” Unsplash, https://unsplash.com/photos/m7_lccaGaYA.
Hello Indrai,
Thank you for your story about home; it is interesting how your sense of home today seems to be defined by what it is ‘not’: not a physical place, a house, a town, a country – but rather your metaphor for home is the freedom to create a unique sense of home as identity.