With my lifestyle it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that home is a flexible concept to me. As a Digital Nomad I keep changing locations and homes, and in fact I’ve been living like this since I was 19 years old.
Perhaps due to my chosen lifestyle I’ve never had much of a knack for interior design. I just can’t see how to make a living room look like one of those super chic and cozy living rooms in other lifestyle blogs.
It’s sort of understandable though. I’ve never been in a situation where I had the liberty to decorate my home;
- I’ve lived in furnished rental apartments all around Europe
- When I did opt for an unfurnished apartment, and got my own furniture, I still didn’t intend to stay for long
- I’ve also lived in a hotel, which obviously doesn’t reguire interior design skills from me
At the moment I’m living in a short-term rental apartment that has plenty of decorating potential (and space). But again, I only intend to stay here until Christmas, so buying furniture doesn’t seem justified.
How can someone live like this, you ask? While this can be a very stressful way to live, having to adjust to new places and environments constantly, it suits me. I get bored easily, so just the thought of being stuck in one city for my whole life makes me shiver.
Do I intend to continue like this forever? Honestly, I don’t know. And here’s why:
Why Home is a Flexible Concept to Me
I’ve been thinking about the concept of ’home’ a lot recently. I’ve always felt the saying ”Home is where your heart is” to be true.
No matter where I’ve lived I always felt at home there. Despite the struggles I might have had in my daily life, or how horrid the furniture in my rental flat might have been. Home is a flexible concept to me because I adjust to new surroundings very quickly.
Home is more than a house
To me ’home’ is not an apartment. It’s a much larger concept. It’s also everything that surrouns a specific apartment:
- a job
- the closest shop
- friends
- the tram stop
- and the people who live in the same building.
No matter where you are, these things exist around you and become a part of your life. Even though most of us never pay any attention to them. But just think, if one day all of those things were gone, would you feel at home anymore?
When I think about home I remember every single apartment I’ve lived in (even though it’s a considerable amount). And more importantly, I remember the yards, the people who I said ‘Hi’ to in the morning, and the same faces that appeared on the bus stop with me each morning.
All those things that you see, and the people that you interact with on a daily basis. Those are the things that make a place feel like home for me. That’s why home is a flexible concept to me.
Not every place deserves the title ‘Home’
While in some countries, like Slovakia, it didn’t take me any time to settle in. And then there were countries where it took me a long time, even years, to get to a place mentally where I could call a place Home. Estonia was one of these countries.
We don’t necessarily even realize it, but whether we feel at home somewhere or not, shows in our communication. For example, when I left Finland to return to the UK or Slovakia I always said I was going home.
But when returning to Estonia I said I’m going to Tallinn. Despite the fact that home is a flexible concept to me, my apartment back then being spacious, light, perfectly located, the best apartment I had had so far, didn’t make it feel like a home.
I still felt like I was an outsider. Why? Because
- I had no friends there
- no neighbours who would answer to my ‘hellos’
- no colleagues to hang out with
- and no contact to the local culture and happenings due to lack of local acquaintances.
Eventually, after many years, the day came when I accidentally blurted out the word ‘home’ when planning to go back to Tallinn from Finland.
It took a change of work place until I started feeling a bit better. But still I wasn’t happy in Estonia. I wanted to move out the day I came there. But things kept popping up that prevented me from moving away.
First it was lack of money that kept me rooted. And then it was a boyfriend (who turned out to be a rather abusive boyfriend). By the time I got a job that enabled me to pay off my debts and even work remotely, Life threw me another curveball.
Home is where we make it
I was fired. Not surprisingly. And perhaps I had been mentally preparing myself for another big Life shift, because when the news was broken to me, I almost felt relieved. Not because I didn’t like the job and especially my colleagues. Some of them are still in my life! ?
But because I had actually been saying it for a while that I would love to focus on my own stuff and see if it takes me anywhere. And then there I was, jobless in a country that doesn’t pay livable jobless benefits.
Fast forward 6 months and I was making more money as a freelancer than I ever had as a basic worker. Roll on another 5 months and I had moved on from a freelancer to an entrepreneur. And that’s when I realised I probably ended up in Estonia and got stuck for a reason.
The years in Estonia were quite rough. But that way they taught me to trust life and thrive. I found confidence in places I hadn’t seen it before and became an entrepreneur despite always saying that’s the last thing I could ever be.
Home is ME
I’ve been through so many massive life changes within the past decade alone that they sort of reframed my point of view in terms of Home. Home is a flexible concept to me because it turns out it’s ME.
The place where I feel safe and secure, the place I trust, the place that I know will get through whatever Life throws my way. It’s me! My body, my mind, my creativity, my stubbornness, my drive. I’m never lost cause wherever I am, Home is there.
