To me, a home is a place where one is able to feel safe, free, and peaceful. Whether that’s in a house, an apartment, a tent, or a car. For many people their actual forms of shelter are not as supportive as they need, because of this one’s true home can become their communities, families, or places outside of their shelter. As someone who’s been privileged enough to have always had a house to live in, a house has always been synonymous with the word home. A place for me to make my own, to rest, recharge and refuel, to express myself and create, and to allow myself to take a break from the outside world so that I can go back into it with more ability to contribute.
Having several family friends who have had periods of “homelessness” or housing insecurity throughout their lives, has really shown me how incorrect the term “homeless” is. People who don’t have adequate shelter are just houseless or shelterless, not homeless. Home is whatever one wants it to be, for so many people home is more about the land, people, and community values they believe in. There are so many communities of unhoused people that care for one another despite not having adequate shelter, and find a sense of home with each other. And there are so many houseless people that find a home within the land and nature or the city where they reside. Home is really just a place of belonging and personal meaning.
Because my parents are divorced I live in two separate homes, I have lived in various houses and apartments, and I have had to find ways to carry the feeling of home to each of them. I learned to do this through my love of my family members, my artwork and decorations, and the things I do to care for myself in those places. I think that many people can find a home in many different places all at once. Now, I find home to be synonymous with belonging, kindness and feeling nurtured, whether that is found in a literal house or not, a sense of home is essential to all human beings and something we all have to find one way or another.
