What does it mean “there’s no place like home”?

We have all seen the movie “The Wizard of Oz” and the scene where Dorothy clanks her red shoes together saying “there’s no place like home.”

But is there? Home means different things to everyone—some have fond memories and some not so much. One thing is for certain, though: we all want to have a place we can call home.

Home can be a physical location, like your actual house, apartment, or parents’ house, but it can also be a feeling when you find yourself in a certain environment.

I was noticing a mom walking home from school with her daughter on a Friday, and it connected me with a feeling of pure content and happiness. I instantaneously ventured back in to my “Friday moment” when leaving school to go home.

There was no greater feeling of peace, contentment, and a sense of freedom when I would leave school to start the weekend. If it was sunny, I would ride my bike to school and truly embrace the sunshine on my way home, listening to nature’s sounds around me, and being filled with joy. If it was raining, cold, or snowing, I would huddle in a corner seat on the train, stare out the window, and imagine drinking hot coffee or hot cocoa while watching a favorite movie or listening to music; a feeling of comfort would cover me like a blanket.

As I was observing the mom and her daughter, I wondered if this little girl felt similar. Did she have this feeling of home as well on a Friday, or any other day?

When we come back to where we currently live, do we feel at home or is it merely a place we live in? When we go visit our parents, do we feel home then, or is it when we are merely with them, no matter what location that might be? I find myself truly at home when I’m visiting my parents. Even though they do not necessarily live in the same place I grew up in, being with them is home to me. Also, the joy of the plane touching down in Berlin brings a smile to my face and is a moment of arrival—home.

Being with certain people makes me feel “homey” as well because of the shared memories.

But what does “home” truly mean? Is it really a place or rather the general environment we create at any given moment with people we truly love being around?

On the flip side, there are plenty of people who grew up in a negative environment and did not get those fuzzy feelings when they had to go home. It was the exact opposite—they wanted to either stay where they were at or run an extra 500 miles in the opposite direction because home meant pain, disappointment, punishment, fear, and anxiety.

Those are the people we need to embrace into our lives to show them home is where we feel at ease, where we can experience joy and a true feeling of self without judgement of others—our personal power shield, our sanctuary, and our safe place.

Home does not have to be an actual location on a map. It can be wherever we go because we carry it inside ourselves. We can open the doors to our home any time and to whomever we want; it’s ours! But we get to decide who is welcome.

Who will you welcome first? Where will it be? Is it a revolving door? Will you be the host or a visitor? What will you do and share? What does home mean to you?

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