The Meaning of Home: More than Just a House

What is home? If one looks in a dictionary the answer would come out to be, “The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.” However, for anyone who has had an actual home, they would know that such a term goes much beyond its concrete description. It is an impassioned aspect filled with values and a foundation of nurturing. A home is not just an abode built to live in; in fact, that is just a definition of a house. Home is a place where one not only feels comfortable, but a place they look forward to opportunely live in every day. A home is built not by bricks or wood, but with the bond of family. A home is a place that reminds a person of countless memories and values when he walks through a corridor of the house, or looks at one of his belongings. On the other hand, a person can move from one house to the next. However, their home remains the same. No matter where they go, people will reminiscence about the one place or a group of people with whom they felt truly content.

A house provides one with shelter from a multitude of things. A home not only offers a roof over your head, but when one returns to their home, they are at utmost peace. No matter how tired or weary they are or what problems they have come in with, a home gives them their own sanctuary. The difference between a house and a home is that a home comes with a sense of belonging. This attribute has a lot to do with the simple sense of feeling safe; wherever a person feels safe, that place becomes the root of a home, whether it is big or small. For instance, in the entire Harry Potter series, Harry believed that his school Hogwarts was his home because it was the one place in the entire world where he felt like he belonged. In addition, it was where he was most secure, and had friends who cared for his well-being. Home fulfills the basic level of the hierarchy of human needs: Warmth, shelter, love, and a sense of belonging.

Family is what makes a house a home; this statement is undeniably precise. A person could have every material entity in the entire world, but it would mean nothing if he does not have someone to share it with. In other words, home is also semantically related to sharing the happiness, grief, and material things with one’s family. A home gives people a place to care about the people that mean the most to them. It is a place to tell amusing tales, a good story, or make memorable memories with one another. Furthermore, home is more than a place; it is a feeling. It is a feeling of contentment and happiness that they share with the ones they love. Moreover, home is when one knows they are with people that can drive them insane in a second, and the same people can make them happy in a second as well. Home means that no matter what one is going through, no matter how challenging life gets, there will be someone looking out for them.

One knows that a place is their home when they are comfortable enough to present a true description of themselves, because they know that they will receive definitive acceptance. It is a sanctuary for them where they can do anything they please and not be judged afterwards. It is where one can share the absurdity of their day without any remorse or repercussions. The reason why people say that a person only has one true home is because one will only feel all these things in one place. In everyday life, people have school or work. However, at the end of the day, all individuals yearn being at home, where they will be at peace. When one lives in a multitude of places, there will always be a place that is above the rest. Even if the other places they live in are enjoyable they will not be as content as they once were. When one realizes that they are not as content as they once were, they will then soon find out that they cannot be completely them anymore.

Moving on, as previously mentioned, a home is also a state of mind. Often individuals use the term ‘I feel at home’, when they are in fact outside their physical house. This is because they feel the emotional ties with a certain place, or a group of people. A lot of people feel the utmost peace and a sense of belonging with a group of friends. This state of mind, then, becomes their home. These individuals often lack the sense of belonging with their biological family. On the contrary, one might be lucky enough to have a home, and then feel ‘at home’ with a group of people or at a place. However, one home is sentimentally above the rest. For the most blessed people, it is the place where they live, with their loved ones.

More than anything, it is a home that is one’s most blissful belonging. It is cherished, irreplaceable, and irrefutable, but without it one will never be complete. A home will always and forever define a person as who they are. Throughout a lifetime, individuals make a lot of decisions; take plenty courses of actions, for one reason: the pursuit of happiness. Whoever has a home knows that they do not have to pursue happiness, they have attained it. One might have many houses throughout lifetime but they will only have one home, where there are people that they share sentimental values with.