What Makes a Home?

Hello, friends! Happy Wednesday! As always, I hope that this week is treating you well. Today I wanted to write a blog about the concept of home, something I find to be a bit more complicated than a place with four walls and a roof. Let’s dive in!

I know that I’m very blessed to have had multiple households where I’ve grown up to feel safe and loved. It’s not always that way for everybody. Sometimes we need to find and create our own homes. They don’t need to be big and fancy, in fact, I prefer them to be small and cozy. It can be a place of your own creation. I’ve been thinking about this more and more as I get ready to make my first big girl move — moving out of Mount Pleasant.

As I get older, I also begin to think of the home I’ll want to provide for my children, once I have them. What kind of home would they want? The kind of home we want for our children, we should aim to create for ourselves. If we want a place where a child would feel safe, we need to have an environment where we also feel safe in. And I know that life is hard, and it can be unfair. Sometimes we’re forced to endure situations where we do not feel safe or loved. Maybe the only safe place we have is the one we create within ourselves, and that becomes our home.

In addition to creating this safe and loving atmosphere for ourselves, we must also be sure to produce an atmosphere where others can feel safe and cared for. I became all too aware of how greatly others need a safe spot when I was working with elementary school students. For many children, school was where they felt safest, and where they felt most cared for. It was the closest thing they felt to home, being at school. Feeling safe is an important feeling that people can often take for granted. I know that I do. And it’s not lost on me how fortunate I am. Until I win the lottery, I will not be able to build physical homes for people, but I can always make sure that people feel cared for and that they feel safe.

And it’s certainly not always easy. We interact with people who are rude to us, and it doesn’t exactly make us feel up to replying with kindness. And we can’t forget to keep ourselves safe in the process. Both physically and mentally. This can be very difficult, and I find it quite tricky, finding the balance. I worry so much about seeming rude, but we must remember it’s better to be seen as a little curt, than to put ourselves in a situation where we’re in harm’s way. You deserve to feel safe, too.

We must do our best to create a space where people feel safe and comfortable but never at the price of our own safety. Which is easier said than done, I know…

It’s not selfish wanting to be safe.

Perhaps I’ve spun this idea of a metaphorical home too far from my original sentiments, but I do believe that they’re connected still. Everyone has different resources and different opportunities in life, and as always, all we can do is our best. ❤

Thank you so much for reading!

XOXO,

Mattie Mae