Home is…
- How would you finish that sentence?
- What immediately comes to mind?
I recently submitted a piece of writing to a competition, which had ‘Writing Home‘ as the theme. While thinking about what to write, I revisited a blogpost, ‘Home is…‘, from 2017. Written while on a team retreat near Mount Pangrano in West Java, Indonesia.
It filled me with nostalgia, and made me chuckle; because of an interaction with my Mum (see photo below), which had prompted the post.
Here’s an excerpt:
J M Whyne, ‘Home Is…’, Nov. 2017
I both laughed at my Mum’s cheekiness and reflected on how I did indeed have things that have travelled with me. Things that feel like ‘home’.
I’m sure we all have those kinds of things that make any place where you are, feel like home. Or at the very least feel like they have a bit of ‘you’ in them.
What makes you feel at home?
As I went on to elaborate in the original post and reflected on in my submission piece, various things can both hold and impart a sense of home.
Home is that piece of gold and bronze material that has traversed borders.
What once robed my flesh became a treasure trove that could fit into the smallest carry-on. Its addition to any place, whatever the length of stay, furnished it with a sense of home.
An excerpt from the submission piece. J M Whyne, July 2024
So what makes you feel at home?
The spaces that we occupy may not always provide the ‘at home’ feel that we best thrive in.
Identifying (and articulating) what makes you feel ‘at home’ and what you can contribute to achieving it, is a useful thing to explore. Recognising that this will may differ dependent on the space i.e, personal living space, workplace, team, group, organisation etc.,
Sometimes we may be able to add something to those spaces that will bring about that feel, for ourselves and maybe others.
At other times, it may require organisational/structural change and at other times, us choosing to no longer be in certain spaces.
Parting Thought
Where do you already feel at home?