It’s funny because I’m writing this from my sister’s childhood bedroom in my parent’s basement, where I’m living for the winter. But I think being able to write this Rant required me to return home for an extended period after discovering and finding new homes in so many different places.

Home is comfort. It’s familiarity. It’s nostalgia. It’s intuitive. It’s complacency. It’s effortless. It’s memorized. It’s your raw self— who you were when you didn’t know you could be anyone else. It’s knowing the best breakfast sandwich and happy hour and shady tree.

Moving away from such a sense of normalcy and stability takes strength. It takes someone who is willing to discover and settle into a new culture, routine, and support system. It requires curiosity and stamina and trust in yourself. It calls upon your ability to be vulnerable and open and easygoing. Whether you hate your hometown or love your hometown, leaving that very deep understanding of how everything works, takes a courageous person. Because it is damn hard to reach such a level of familiarity and intuitiveness with new places. And your perspective of home shifts every time you settle into a different place, decreasing your original sense of comfort and memorization.

There are many who don’t leave home. Maybe family is extremely important. Maybe it’s not possible financially. Maybe they feel no need to discover different places. Those who don’t leave home have a level of acceptance and community that is difficult to top.

If you’ve moved away from home, kudos for taking the leap. If you’ve never left home, I understand why the allure and comfort of the streets that raised you continue to hold you. This is such a nuanced topic that is hardly ever talked about because truly experiencing every aspect of where we live is impossible. Every conversation, bus ride, and walk home is filled with discovery and/or normalcy. This Rant isn’t meant for you to overanalyze where you live and how you feel about it, but to provide some acknowledgment that the choices you’ve made about where you currently call home should be validated and respected. Those choices reflect your character and the underlying journey you’re currently experiencing.

Conversation Starters:

• If you’ve moved away from home, what did you experience? Were you grateful for a new perspective or was it difficult to adjust?

• If you’ve never left home, why not? What magic do you continue to find in your home?