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How Do You Stop Caring About the Home You Never Had?
No matter how I tried to sell myself on the wanderer’s lifestyle, I ached for stability.
“Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.”
― James Baldwin
With so many fields of work requiring in-person work for one reason or another, having a career still means moving a lot for so many people. I had a spell in my life when I had 9 apartments in 7 years.
There are a lot of stories there, but most of the time, the moves were caused by job changes or terrible neighbors. I tried on towns, cities, and jobs like seasonal outfits. There were times I had to move, even when I desperately didn’t want to.
If you have negative feelings about where you came from or a painful family history, the idea of home is complicated.
I had a recurrent sore point with my partner related to this dicey concept. “Home” in his GPS is always set to his parents’ house. Though I know it was illogical, I got a little upset every time we’re in the car and I see it — because home is where I live with him, because I don’t have a family to run to if things ever went sideways. Many years ago, before my career was…
