$ 3 Ways To Find Where You Belong: No Place Feels Like Home

When No Place Feels Like Home: 3 Ways To Find Where You Belong

When No Place Feels Like Home 1

To find where you belong, can be a nuanced journey, often filled with self-discovery and realizations about what makes a place feel like home. Here are three insightful ways to navigate this path, uncovering where you genuinely belong and creating a sanctuary that resonates with your inner self.

What do you do when NO place feels like home? What if when watching Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz clicking the heels of her ruby slippers three times and crying out that famous line โ€“ โ€œthereโ€™s no place like homeโ€ โ€“ you found yourself shaking your head, feeling very much alone, and silently wishing that you HAD a place โ€“ ANY PLACE โ€“ that felt like home?

If that sounds like you, youโ€™re not alone.

When no place feels like home, loneliness, self-doubt, and isolation take root. As humans, we want and need to feel as if we belong to something, to somewhere, to someone.

But as furniture retailer IKEAโ€™s fifth annual Life at Home Report pointed out: The fact is that for so many of us โ€“ nearly 40 percent of Americans โ€“ we just donโ€™t feel a sense of belonging in our own homes. The report shared that people today do not feel at home in the very place they call home.

Related:ย Why Do Empaths Have Such a Strong Sense of Not Belonging

So why is that? And if youโ€™re feeling as if no place feels like home to you, what can you do about it?

The study pointed to five common elements that they determined were needed to make a home feel like home. Those included: Privacy, comfort, ownership, security, and belonging.

Growing up, my home wasnโ€™t a place of comfort or security. With a mom and a sister, both diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, my home was a place where madness lived.

I tried to substitute home with work. For years, my jobs were more so the place I felt secure. My career made me feel as if I belonged, to the point where it then became my identity. When I was let go from my high profile, high paying executive position, I lost even that sense of belonging. The very question of โ€œWho am I?โ€ was one I struggled to answer.

Personally, my home had become a shameful secret that I desperately tried to hide from the outside world. Professionally, climbing the ladder at work to achieve bigger titles and even bigger pay checks filled a void in me, but never for very long.

It wasnโ€™t until I found someone โ€“ a counsellor โ€“ who helped me feel secure and comforted and with whom I could be my true self that I was able to look inside myself to finally truly belong โ€“ no matter where I might physically be.

Thatโ€™s when I really began to understand: When no place feels like home, itโ€™s because we donโ€™t feel at home inside our own skins. Home isnโ€™t so much a physical location, but a state of being and owning all of who we are.

The more I feared my familyโ€™s mental illness, the more insecure and alone I became. The more I made my job my identity, the more it owned me, and I began to lose sight of my own power.

Iโ€™ve learned that when no place feels like home, there are three things you can do to help you find your way back to you.

When No Place Feels Like Home: 3 Ways To Find Where You Belong

1. Give Yourself A Social Media Break

Constantly scrolling through your Facebook feed may have you thinking as if everyone else is out partying and living incredible lives โ€“ while you sit solo wondering, โ€œwhy them and not me?โ€

The truth is that what most people post socially is not showing the full picture. Itโ€™s their highlight reel. Just like when you see coming attractions for a movie, youโ€™re only being given the best clips.

Comparing yourself to others is the quickest way to rob yourself of your joy. So choose not to do that to you. Instead, start focusing on every moment of your own life and whatever magic you might find in the madness.

Start coming up with your own highlight reel. Youโ€™ll be surprised how looking at yourself with a new lens brings you peace and a sense of belonging to you.

How to find where you belong? Take a social media break

2. Reconnect with Everything That Isnโ€™t โ€œMan-Madeโ€

We spend way too much time indoors and inside our own heads. The lack of physical activity is proven to add to stress and depression and our overall lack of wellbeing. So put on your hiking boots and just start walking outside.

Listen to the wind rustling the leaves of trees and the birds chirping and bugs buzzing. Smell the air and when you come across a yard with rose bushes, literally, stop and smell those roses.

Remove your shoes and feel the grass or cement under your bare feet. Take pleasure in the home you are a part of: Planet Earth. Enjoy the ecosystem, and make yourself at home.

Related:ย How to Find a Sense of Belonging When Youโ€™re Isolated

3. Remember Who You Are

When I was very little, I loved to dance. That was before I paid attention to who might see me dancing. That was before I cared about what others thought. That was before I was told by well-meaning adults to not jump around so wildly, lest my skirt rise up and show more than I should.

Who were you before those voices told you something was wrong with you? Take a trip down memory lane. Google what music or movies were playing when you were five or ten or 15. Bring back joyful moments of your youth and pay attention to the times you felt at home. Start asking yourself where home is for you. You may be surprised at your answers.

Wherever we are, we bring ourselves with us. So the only place that home can be is inside of ourselves. When no place feels like home, stop looking outside for a place, a thing, or a person to be our home; rather, search your soul, open your heart, tap into your power, and find your way back to the home that is you.

Ready to find your way back to you? Itโ€™s never too late. Book a FREE 30-minute call with me. Letโ€™s have a chat on how to get you back on the path to where you belong. Click here to schedule now.

Writing is healing and therapy for me and others I coach. Check out my latest books and give yourself a break with the read:ย https://madnesstomagic.com/books/


Written By Paolina Milana 
Originally Appeared On Madness To Magic
ways to find where you belong

— Share —

, ,

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Up Next

5 Deadpool Quotes That Prove Life is Hilarious and Deep

Deadpool Quotes That Prove Life is Hilarious

โ€˜Deadpoolโ€™ isnโ€™t just any superhero film; itโ€™s the film for all you sarcastic loving people, thanks to its hilariously foul-mouthed protagonist. And below are some Deadpool quotes about life that will show you how funny yet deep the movie is!

The multiversal comedy-action duo Deadpool and Wolverine, played by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, are ready to entertain their fans. It has been six years since the last time we saw this superhero couple reunited on screen together again so you know itโ€™s going to be good!

Up Next

6 Lessons From Emily In Paris Every Millennial and Gen Z Can Relate To

Lessons From Emily In Paris Every Millennial Gen Z Can Relate

Lily Collinโ€™s popular Netflix show isnโ€™t just about pretty outfits, Parisian backdrops, or love triangles but many important life lessons from Emily In Paris that speak to anyone trying to figure out the ups and downs of their 20s.

So, whether youโ€™re tuning in for the fashion or Emilyโ€™s dramatic love life, thereโ€™s a lot to learn from her experiences in the City of Love. Here are six takeaways from the show that might resonate with you on your own journey through life.

6 Meaningful Lessons From Emily In Paris!

1. Learning A New Language Can Change Your Life

Do you recall the time Emily arrived in Paris

Up Next

Things People Learn Too Late In Life: 7 Eye-Opening Life Lessons

Things People Learn Too Late in Life Eye Opening Life Lessons

Life is full of unexpected events and sometimes there are things people learn too late. Though some lessons come with age and experience, as time goes by, we often wish we had known some important truths sooner.

These moments of truth can be very shocking as well as transformative, they help us live authentically, appreciate what truly matters, and make the most of our time. Below are seven crucial life lessons people learn too late and can still change the way they approach life.

7 Things People Learn Too Late In

Up Next

Is Lifestyle Creep Sneaking Up on You? 2 Key Signs to Reassess Your Spending Habits

Are You Becoming a Lifestyle Creep Check The Warning Signs Now 1

Are you familiar with the term lifestyle creep? Even if you are not, you may be a part of it unknowingly. Wondering why? Because it comes very subtly with the upgradation of our lifestyle.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

You get a raise or a bonus, and suddenly, your daily coffee turns into a pricey latte, your old car feels outdated, and that budget-friendly vacation de

Up Next

Why Itโ€™s So Hard to Admit Youโ€™re Wrong: 7 Surprising Psychological Barriers You Didnโ€™t Know About

Psychological Reasons Why It Is Hard To Admit Were Wrong 1

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a heated debate, feeling that gnawing sensation that you might be wrong, but donโ€™t want to admit it? Or maybe you are watching someone double down on their stance, even when all evidence points to the contrary, and wondering, โ€œWhy canโ€™t they just say theyโ€™re wrong?โ€ Itโ€™s a common scenario that plays out in classrooms, workplaces, and even family dinners, leaving many of us puzzled about why it is so hard to admit to being wrong.

Up Next

4 Powerful Ways to Accept Vulnerability and Sensitivity In Your Life

Powerful Ways to Accept Vulnerability and Sensitivity In Your Life 1

Vulnerability and sensitivity โ€“ are two character traits that are often misunderstood and considered obstacles, but did you know they can be blessings in disguise?

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Our early childhood and formative years, particularly in early infancy, adolescence, and young adulthood are the main times when we get maximum life-altering experiences. This

Up Next

What Self Love Is Not? Understanding 5 Common Misconceptions About Loving Yourself

What Self Love Is Not Common Misconceptions About Loving Yourself 1

Self love is not just taking bubble baths and affirmations. Itโ€™s definitely not an individualistic ego thing. So what is it truly? This simple-sounding phrase has a broader meaning in our lives and in this article, weโ€™ll discover what it means to love yourself!

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

The effect of post-modernism has made everyone quite detached from each oth