Post by Anusha (@Anusha)

After traveling to so many places, I've only felt truly at home in a few of them. It makes me wonder what actually makes a place feel like home.

Is it the amount of time you spend there? The people you meet? Feeling safe? Feeling understood?

I grew up in Nepal and spent most of my life there, but I never really felt at home. I think part of it was that I was always a little different from the norm. I never quite fit in, and I rarely felt welcomed for who I was. In Vietnam I spent only three months traveling around the country, and there were places where I stayed for barely two days, yet they felt more like home than my own hometown. And I spent 3 months in Koh Lanta and felt home. It wasn't the amount of time I spent there. It was something else. The people, the atmosphere, the feeling of being welcomed.

For me, home seems to have less to do with where I'm from and more to do with how a place makes me feel. Home is where I feel welcomed. Where I can be myself without feeling out of place.

Maybe home isn't where you've spent the most time. Maybe it's where you feel accepted. Maybe it's where you feel like you belong. And sometimes, that feeling can show up in a place you've only just arrived.

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