Where is home? That seems like such a simple question to answer. Most people would say something like “My address is …”, or maybe “Home is my house”. But there can be much more involved in truly answering the question. Perhaps it will have much deeper implications for you after a bit of expansion.
One version of the questions that could lead you to deeper thought would be “what does it take for you to feel at home?”. The places, the people, the landscape around you are all different facets of helping to make you feel at home. There is likely not a singular aspect, but perhaps multiple, that all contribute to answering the question, “where is home?”.
While I usually try to keep from injecting myself directly into these types of mental explorations on this site, this one seems to need a bit of an example of the self-reflection necessary to answer the question. Throughout my life, I have traveled across the length and breadth of the U.S.A., have spent time in (and lived in) the various regions, and have visited some other countries. For me, one aspect that helps to define “home” is a major piece of the U.S. landscape. Specifically, it is the Appalachian Mountains. I currently live on the northern end of the range, and have followed it to the southern extremity more than once. Being surrounded by these mountains (whether in New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, or another Appalachian state) gives me that feeling of being at home, even when I am traveling. A friend, who currently lives in Utah, has described herself to me as “a desert rat”. That is her “home”, it is where she feels most comfortable. For many of us, “home” is not just the building in which we reside, it is the much wider landscape and all that could entail. This is what cradles us in the feeling of “home”.
What is it that affects you deep down inside, and creates that feeling of “home” within you? I often wonder how many people actually take the time for this type of introspection. It seems that people rarely look beneath their surface feelings and try to understand what it is that helps to create who they are continually becoming. There is so much we do not know about ourselves, or don’t take the time to explore, even though we have lived our whole life within that self. Think about it, where is home?