Feel at Home Anywhere

4 min read

When asked, "Where is home?" most people might reply with their place of residence, childhood location, or country of origin. However, at Kume House, we dedicate ourselves to helping you cultivate another kind of home. This home has no geographic coordinates. It's a sense of peace, ease, joy, and belonging you can have at all times, no matter where life may lead you.

Home isn't easy to define, but you feel it when you're there. Sometimes it's a physical place, and other times it's not. It can be a place of affection, peace, privacy, and protection. But home is not limited to a location; it can also be a feeling—a moment of healing, a sense of deeper meaning, and comfort during emotional struggles. Home may even take the form of a person, someone who brings you immense happiness and a deep sense of love and certainty.

Amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, my world shrank to the confines of my two-bedroom, one-bath New York City apartment I shared with a roommate. Isolated from the external world, I found myself seeking the meaning of home beyond the physical trappings of my apartment. As days turned into months, I journaled, and it dawned on me that the essence of a home lay not in bricks and mortar but within myself. This realization transformed my perspective, and I began to see myself as a sanctuary, a sacred space that nurtured, inspired, and gave me a sense of security. It invited curiosity, rituals, and storytelling. This space felt authentic, distinctive, and personal. It was an engagement of body, mind, and soul. I was no longer bothered to be confined to my apartment because I was home with myself. This understanding has allowed me to experience more freedom and not be afraid to leave my comfort zone because I have a sense of home with me wherever I go. 

My personal journey has inspired me to explore the essence of "home" on our Kume: Turning Point Diaries podcast. These conversations have highlighted that home is something everyone desires but seeks in various ways. Let me share a few of our podcast guests' reflections on what home means to them. 

Home as community

Scholar and master storyteller, Kewulay Kamara, a frequent guest on the podcast, describes home as our community. He reminds us: "Wherever you are, you make that your home, which doesn't just mean your house or apartment. It means your community—the people around you, those who support and depend on you, and who you depend on. Wherever you are, you try to create that energy, and you receive that energy." 

Home as an internal space

Another insightful guest, Eric Abrego, shared his journey of finding the meaning of home, having grown up in a neighborhood that was a hotbed for violence and gang activity. For him, home became an internal place, a refuge within oneself: "Home is something deeper inside of you. For survivors, it's what they tend to do. If we're talking about war zones and people who grew up in such environments, they often find themselves with just a bag, moving around, and usually, what they have to do is go deep inside themselves. That's where your solitude is, where your comfort lies, where everything that we associate with a physical location like home really is. It rests inside you. I traveled to Japan alone last year and felt at peace not only because I was in a location I love, but also because I was with myself. I found solace in solitude."

Home as the present moment

In Season 2 Episode 9, our guest Marius Iliescu offered an expatriate perspective on home, highlighting its fluid nature. For him, home resides in the present moment: "We get fixed on this idea that home is one place and static. At one point, I defined home as the place where I had most of my stuff. I've lived in Dubai and London before, and now in Luxembourg. I feel at ease right now because I've shifted from this static conception of home to something like, 'If I feel good, I'll be good.' I don't know where life will take me in three to five years. I can plan, but until then, let's enjoy the present."

Home is an individual and ever-evolving notion that can be found within ourselves, in our communities, or wherever our hearts lead us. As we explore what home means to us, we discover that knowing this essence allows us to feel at home wherever life takes us.

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