I remember reflecting on my sense of home once before. I remember being asked in high school to reflect on what our idea of home was, and this was in law class in case you were wondering. Please don’t ask me why, I can’t even remember what units we did. Our teacher was passionate, interested in what we had to say. He always stressed the importance of how many different backgrounds we come from and all the different paths we would go on. He had asked us to write down words that would describe our home, as far as I can remember. I can’t tell you exactly what I had written but I don’t remember being particularly inspired by the task. I had thought that I have had a very average home life, background, similar to many of my peers around me.

After we had written our notes on our home, our teacher asked us to share with the class. I’m sure there must’ve been keywords like “cozy, relaxing, messy”. I would’ve used the word “messy”, I was not very good at keeping my room tidy at that age. I wish I could remember more of what was being said. Our teacher was a really smart guy, he always listened thoroughly then gave a detailed response. We were then prompted with a challenge of our sense of home. Out comes the projector, then we sat waiting for a video to play. He had put on a Ted Talk video by author Pico Iyer titled “What is Home?”https://www.ted.com/talks/pico_iyer_where_is_home?referrer=playlist-what_is_home#t-5379

I don’t know how many of you may have encountered this video, but it truly my very first time being challenged with the idea of home, nationality, ethnicity, and identity all paralleled at once. My idea of home seems light years away from what I had thought in high school. I think at a younger age it was tough for me to go beyond the context of physicalities, the physical building that makes up my house or the physical bindings of my Canadian passport. Though I might not remember exactly how I felt during and after I’ve seen the video, I still feel enlightened by it into adulthood. I think at that age, my sense of home and identity was very much defined by my family, my peers, and my teachers. I feel as though I had a shared sense of familiarity between those around me. Even though lots of us had very different backgrounds, it was those shared experiences that connected me with those around me.

I think I have a stronger sense of what home now. Not too long ago, I had officially moved out of my parents’ home with my boyfriend. Moving out and moving in to a new place that’s in the midst of the city brought along a familiar idea of physical bindings in my life. I was constantly purchasing new things to make the space feel more like “me” or more like “home”. In a way, I achieved that to some extent, however it never quite feels complete. As I was moving out, I had to part with many things. Well, I didn’t have to but I really should. Whether it was old clothes or old science textbooks, it was tough for me to give up. Perhaps, I would want to revisit them at some point. I thought I had gone through a transition point already when I started university, however going from a home where all my friends lived a couple minutes away to the middle of the city where I had 8 different neighbours on one floor is confusing. I can’t help but think back to Iyer’s video and the realization I’ve come to then. I shouldn’t feel that my current location defines my identity, I don’t feel that my sense of home should be limited to my physical possessions. I realize how over sentimental this might be but my sense of home comes from seeing my friends once a week, from the frequent chats with my parents, and from the shared experiences I have with my boyfriend who has a very different background than me.

Citations:

Iyer, Pico. “Where is Home?” TED. June 2013. https://www.ted.com/talks/pico_iyer_where_is_home?referrer=playlist-what_is_home#t-5379