My Two-Cents: Homelessness

Here are some things about me. I am twenty. I don’t know how to pay taxes. My cooking endeavors consist of mac and cheese, Hy-vee chicken salad, bagels, and turkey sticks. Sometimes when I’m feeling fancy, I’ll air fry a frozen chicken breast. Recently, I’ve decided I believe in the air fryer more than any divine being in the sky. I would consider myself a Parks and Rec enthusiast but due to my poor television commitment issues, I have been on season 7 for the last 9 months. And last, but not least, I feel homeless. Here’s why.

I moved out of my house two years ago – since that’s what you usually do after you graduate high school. And now I live in a house. Not my parent's house, but a house. And it’s actually really awesome; I would say not living in my parent's basement has been one of the biggest upgrades in my life. (Mom, Dad, if you’re reading this – I know you probably feel the same). And all of these things would point to the conclusion – I am, in fact, not home-less. I am home-sufficient. I have a home. I have a current residence. I have a place I can go back to whenever I want (so long as my parents don’t move and forget to send me their new address). But despite all of these things, I often still feel homeless.

I think (hear me out) home is not a place. I think home is a feeling – and we get that feeling from being with people who feel like home. When I’m with my parents, I feel at home. When I’m with good friends, I feel home. Even when I’m on the phone with a long-distance friend, I can feel at home. And if you told me that I would feel that way 2 years ago – that a simple phone call in my car would give me the same feeling of comfort that my childhood bedroom gave me at 12 – I wouldn’t believe you. Because, there really is no way of understanding the feeling until you do – and in some cases, until you have to. I don’t think I would have been able to find that comfort in the people around me unless I left the comfort of my bedroom. I think that by leaving home, we get thrown to the wolves. Our minds morph the meaning of home, and we get to see home in a beautiful way we never knew existed – we get to see it in people! And that is so so cool and so so terrifying. Because it makes you realise the importance of who you surround yourself with. To quote Good Will Hunting: “And then we get to choose who we let into our weird little worlds.” The people we let into our world hold some responsibility for helping us feel at home, but we are the ones responsible for choosing who we let into our little worlds. So, choose people who make you feel at home.