West London Girl

WLG on how we define home

December
8

There are many factors that affect our definition of home or can make us feel rootless

How do we define home in our modern, unstable times? I returned home to London during the week of the Brexit vote and will be departing for a new job in the Middle East not long after Donald Trump has been voted president of the United States.

home

In the UK, and in London and the south-east in particular, mostly well-educated millennials (and those who are older) are struggling in our difficult economic climate, living with their parents for longer than they’d like or sharing bathrooms and kitchens in short-term lets.

However, millennials’ struggle to find a home doesn’t compare to the hardships of so many economic migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. We are in the midst of a refugee crisis with 65 million people on the move around the world, which has become the stuff of an angry, fragmented politics.

There are many factors that affect our definition of home or can make us feel rootless, from technology to immigration, urbanisation and climate change.

So, in these unstable times, what’s the modern definition of home? Here are a few of the things I’ve learnt while blogging from home and abroad…

  1. The city we call home will influence our lifestyle and happiness. Going out makes Londoners happy (and going out too often leads to hangovers, exhaustion and mistakes).
  2. They might say that guests are like fish with a three-day shelf life but friends, who have come to the rescue during my transition from one location and job to another, have made me feel more at home than, well, having my own home.
  3. Admittedly, sharing your home can prove testing, particularly when non negotiables aren’t adhered to.
  4. Living abroad can make you feel more at home with who you are, English foibles and all.
  5. When we see life as an adventure and say hello to our neighbour during a flight, we can take home wherever we travel. As the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho once said, ‘Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.’

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