The concept of “home” can be hotly debated. “Home” can of course refer to your race, your ethnic background and nationality, where you were born and raised, and where you currently reside. To simplify things, in this post, I’ll refer to “home” as where you were born and raised as well as where you currently reside.
If you have had the experience of moving cities or towns, whether that be to the next province or state, across the country, or halfway around the world, you may have found yourself questioning where “home” is.
Growing up in Vancouver, Canada, I would sometimes have fantasies about living elsewhere but never actually thought it would happen. I used to think that Vancouver and Canada would always be “home”, no matter what. More on that later.
Then life happens, ideas change, you make a crazy decision, and suddenly, you’re on the other side of the world in Edinburgh, Scotland!
It seems that most people who go through a significant move go through a period (or more) of homesickness. For me though, in the just over 3.5 years that I’ve been living in the UK, I never once felt homesick, and I can’t pinpoint exactly why, though I have a few theories.
There are likely many factors influencing the length and strength of homesickness, like your personality and your upbringing. Some people also adapt to change more quickly than others. I naturally don’t have much of a problem dealing with change – my personality allows me to go with the flow, but of course, this is not the case for everyone. It perhaps also depends on whether your experience in your new city or town is largely positive or negative.
So where is “home” for me? Is it in Canada? Is it in Scotland? Is it in both?
Often, people quote, “Home is where the heart is”, which is a great quote, but I find myself aligning more closely with, “Home is wherever you are”. Again, I believe this speaks to my relatively go-with-the-flow personality.
Right now, home is Edinburgh and home is Scotland. If we ever move somewhere else in the future, that will be home.
This is not to say that I don’t care for Vancouver or Canada anymore – not in the slightest! I will always be very proud of where I was born and raised and of the country of my passport, but at the moment, it’s not home.
Change is inevitable in life. I know there are people who have a hard time with this. Perhaps you’ve moved to a different city or country that you don’t like but due to complicated circumstances or circumstances beyond your control, you can’t move back. And there’s a non-acceptance of your situation as well as a yearning to go “home”.
I truly hope that if you are in this situation, you can accept your current circumstances, whatever that may be. Because once acceptance happens, a certain peace arises within you. And being able to accept the present moment at all times is I think the key to a peaceful life.
Where is “home” for you? If you’ve moved away, do you find yourself yearning to go “home”? Let me know in the comments!
Hmm, “home”. I can relate with “Home is wherever you are” because I also find I have been able to adapt to living in different places. As I ponder some more, I also wonder if “Home is where you feel loved, safe, at peace, contented”. What do you think about that?
Yes, that is a good one as well! In the case of that quote, I believe I would have multiple homes.
I think “home” is different for everyone, for some it is where they lay their head at night and for others it is where ever their loved one is. For me it is where my family is!
I often ask this question… Difficult to move to a new city a new way of life!
Home for me is where my family is and where we lay our head. I do like the saying that “Home is Wherever You Are”. For people who travel often, it has to be wherever you are but for me, if my family isn’t there it doesn’t feel like home. I liked this a lot.
Could not agreed more to this post as some one having lived in different cities and countries across the world! I too feel home is where you are! For some personal reasons, I have never visited the place where I was born, raised, and lived first 18 years of my life! But, I consider myself fortunate enough to find homes in wherever I lived after that! I continued to carry all the memories, houses, and people from different places in my heart! I love San Francisco, where I live now as much as my tiny village in India, where I grew up.
Canada is in my wish list to travel. And for someone like me who makes relationships wherever she goes so I dont feel home sick often. I think home for me is where ever I am staying at. 🙂