Can Home Be Anywhere? A Nomad’s Perspective
🏠 What is home for you? I’ve been pondering this question a lot lately 🤔. Since becoming ‘house-free’ in May 2021, I’ve lived in 14 different countries, staying with family, friends, and mostly in Airbnbs and hotel rooms.
So, what does “home” mean these days, and where is it?
I’m not quite sure 🤷♂️.
My ‘technical’ residence is still registered at my parents’ house in France, but it doesn’t feel like home anymore. Being away from my childhood place and the country for so long, I’ve lost my connection to it—and to most of the people there. The experiences I’ve had have changed me so profoundly that I find I no longer relate to the life and mentality back ‘home.’ There are a few people I still keep in touch with, but that’s about it.
Honestly, I don’t feel like my country is my home anymore. There are worse places to live, certainly, but I don’t resonate with the general mentality anymore. So, returning to France isn’t something I eagerly anticipate, except to see the few people I miss.
So if my childhood town and country don’t feel like home, and I don’t have a permanent residence, where is home?
And beyond the where, what even is home? Again, I find myself uncertain. If we look beyond the physical aspect (the building itself), what makes a place feel like home?
Perhaps it’s about a feeling—of safety, happiness, or peace of mind? A place where we can drop our masks, let down our guard, and freely be ourselves?
If that’s the case, then home for me is wherever I am with my wife. It might sound cheesy, but the specifics of the place—the looks, the geographic location—don’t matter. Wherever we are together, living happily, even if just for a day, a week, or a month, that feels like home to me, at least for now.