Home Is Where You Make It

Home is where you make it 

I dedicate this little sketch to the month of May as it was the month I moved to Korea, 8 days after my 32nd birthday, AND to my soul sister Kyly who inspired this little sketch and whom I met in Korea and who ALSO celebrates her birthday in May. So, it seems fitting that I share my story with you and how this little sketch came about this month. 

As an expat, I feel somewhat qualified to say, home truly is where you make it. Home can also be more than one place. Once, after a visit to South Africa, on my way back to Korea, my youngest sister asked me if I was leaving home or going home… it took me a second to process it … and I said “both.” 

Home is where the people I love are. That is not just one home, there are many homes in South Africa that collectively is my home. 

In contrast, in Korea, I live alone, and most of my close friends have either left or live in cities far away. But I have made a home for myself here. A place I wake up in, where I rest, care for my mental health, tend to my spirituality and physical health. A sacred place that only a handful of close friends get to bring their joy and love to fill my home with. 

There was a large part of my life where I felt lost, that I didn’t belong anywhere, that I didn’t quite fit in. Then I moved to Korea where I can’t speak the language, the culture is completely different and for a long time, I felt like a homeless child of a vast world.  

One day, mid journaling, I was thinking about my friend Kyly (also my editor). At the time she was living in Korea on her way to Chile via a quick visit home in Wales. As I watched her navigate this huge transition in her life, I was in awe at how easily she packed up a home and made another.  

Then I realized, I am my home. I can never be lost or homeless. Once I knew that to be true, the walls that were my house in Korea, became my home, and as I am unpacking the boxes in my new apartment, I have peace and gratitude knowing, that no matter where I go, home is where I make it, because I am there. It was Kyly who inspired this little sketch. At the time I made it just for her but have since adjusted to it, as she now lives in the US with her lovely husband and one of my favs, Andy. 

I have lived in many houses, in many different cities in two different countries but I never felt like I was home until I found home inside myself. It’s safe, it’s permanent and forever. It’s a true blessing. Then, if you find someone you want to make life and a home with… your home is a family and that is another beautiful way to live.  

Here is to home. Here is to you. Here is to all that ‘home’ can hold and be for you.  

Live, Love, Laugh, Let go and Light up the world in your own Unique way. 

Love, always 

Ané