The Easter break we had these past few days was much needed, to say the least. Many of us were able to go home, to see our families and rest, recover and rejuvenate.
However, this break made me really contemplate “home.” This word can mean many different things to many different people.
Lately, I have really been struggling with the aspect of “home.” I moved around a lot in my childhood (I lived in 8 houses before the age of 18), and always struggled with feeling at home. Add college into the mix, and you can see how home is a very abstract concept for me that can be difficult to truly understand or feel.
For as long as I can remember, I never truly felt “at home.” I always felt like a visitor in my home and in my school, because I never got to settle down anywhere for more than a few years.
College students have a difficult time defining “home” as it is. To be constantly moving from residence to residence, living part time with your parents in your hometown and part time at school with your friends, home can be a difficult concept to grasp. To be in college is to be in a constant state of instability.
I pondered this idea, and I came to realize that home is less about physical places and more about intangible aspects that make you feel at home.
My family makes me feel at home. No matter where we moved to, we always had each other.
My friends at school who have become family make me feel at home. What a beautiful thing it is to find home in people who started off as strangers.
“Home” does not have to be an address or a pinpoint on a map. It can be larger, broader and more abstract.
For example, nature makes me feel at home. The earth is literally our home, and I take comfort in that knowledge. It brings me immense peace to be grounded and connected to the planet that we all share.
I would argue our minds are the most important homes we inhabit. We are in our heads all of the time. When our physical homes feel unstable or nonexistent, we can be at home within ourselves. While we oftentimes can’t control the world around us, we can try our best to make our minds a nice place for us to dwell.
When I started chasing the intangible objects that bring me the sense of peace that “home” often connotes, I was able to stay grounded within myself when my outside world was shifting.
I encourage you to find the things that feel like home to you. Contemplate what they are, and chase them.

ANNA MALESIEWSKI

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