{"id":435,"date":"2012-04-23T09:24:19","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T14:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/?p=435"},"modified":"2012-04-23T09:43:19","modified_gmt":"2012-04-23T14:43:19","slug":"coming-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/?p=435","title":{"rendered":"Coming Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s funny how \u201chome\u201d can mean so many things.\u00a0 It seems like most of the time we think of home as the house, apartment, shack, etc. we go to at the end of the day and the physical structure we claim as our base.\u00a0 I think for me, I use that kind of language to describe my apartment or the city I live in: “Well guys, I think I\u2019m gonna head home for the night\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m so tired.\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to go home!\u201d\u00a0 But really, when I really<\/em> think about it, the word \u201chome\u201d means so much more.<\/p>\n

To me (and maybe you can identify with this), home is my safe place.\u00a0 Home is my place to escape for rest and recharging, a place where I can let down my hair and be myself.\u00a0 While home often signifies a location, like \u201cI\u2019m from Kentucky,\u201d the idea of home also puts these mental pictures in my head of people.\u00a0 And these people are accompanied by feelings.\u00a0 These people and these feelings are familiar and warm and safe.\u00a0 What I\u2019m trying to say is that these people are my home.\u00a0 When I think of it that way, I begin to consider that I might just be richer than Oprah.\u00a0 Oprah might have a mansion here and another couple over there, but when I think of all my homes, I realize that I have a home in Kentucky, in Oklahoma, in North Carolina, Indiana, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Costa Rica, and probably over most continents.\u00a0 Most of my immediate family lives in Oklahoma, some of my best friends are right here in Kentucky, and then there are those other friends all over the world that I somehow am blessed to meet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I call this "Hugged by Nature." This is one of my reflection spots from this weekend. It captures the intense peace I felt from "coming home."<\/p><\/div>\n

I just quite literally got back from a trip to North Carolina where I attended the annual\u00a0Association for Experiential Education (AEE) Southeast Regional Conference<\/a>. \u00a0It\u2019s funny to think that I can go to a place like Hendersonville, North Carolina–a place I have never been before–and feel like I just arrived at home because of the people that are there.\u00a0 I have to tell you about these people.\u00a0 Just a few words to describe them: fun, energetic, full of life, adventurous, laid-back, creative, curious, deep, young at heart, conscientious, funny, balanced, authentic, genuine, respectful, confident, assertive, loving, supportive, inspired.\u00a0 These are just a few of the words that I can use to describe them.\u00a0 These people and these qualities are what I become surrounded by when I attend these conferences and also how I end up feeling.\u00a0 Over just the span of a weekend, we go from not knowing each other\u2019s names to needing <\/em>to hug each other every time we see each other.\u00a0 There ends up being this inevitable, rich connection.\u00a0 It\u2019s like our spirits so easily and deeply resonate with each other and we can\u2019t help but feel so excited and energized when around one another.<\/p>\n

They are my people.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/em>Whether it\u2019s the usual group to arrive that attends every AEE conference every year or a new batch of conference goers, they are my people and will always be my people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember what I said about metaphors in my first post<\/a>?\u00a0 Remember what I said about \u201cletting my hair down\u201d a few thoughts ago?\u00a0 Ok, so sometimes metaphors are completely obvious and literal.\u00a0 Just yesterday, we had some down time in between the keynote speaker and the contra dance.\u00a0 I went back to my bunkhouse to change my shirt and freshen up (not that it lasted too long after 10 minutes of dancing and spinning).\u00a0 Normally, I\u2019m the kind of girl to wear my hair in a side braid as a way to spend as little time as possible on doing my hair but still trying to look somewhat put together.\u00a0 I had a side-braid going on yesterday and let it down as I was freshening up.\u00a0 Looking in the mirror I realized that not only did it feel so relaxing and freeing to have my hair loose but my hair happened to look half-way decent.\u00a0 Normally, I would consider keeping this half-way decent look down but then let my insecurity braid my hair right back up.\u00a0 Yesterday was different though.\u00a0 Yesterday, in that moment, in that place, I felt safe.\u00a0 I felt comfortable.\u00a0 I felt relaxed. \u00a0I felt like I could just be me<\/em> and it was okay<\/em>.\u00a0 I felt like I could both literally and figuratively let my hair down and just be me.\u00a0 My decision to keep my loose, wavy hair down showed me in that moment just how much at home I felt and just how much that sense of home is important to how I feel and how I thrive.<\/p>\n

I ended up walking to the dance and gathering with my friends for an unforgettable night of ridiculous dancing and uncontrollable laughter.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember the last time I truly let my body let loose into God knows what kind of dance moves. \u00a0Going further, I can’t remember the last time I was able to dance without feeling anxiety, insecurity, and self-judgement.<\/p>\n

It feels so fulfilling, exciting, and peaceful to feel at home. \u00a0I am so thankful to have a place where I can take a deep breath, relax, get out of my head, and have fun being myself.<\/p>\n

Where is your<\/em> home?\u00a0 Who <\/em>is your home?\u00a0 What about those people allows you to let your hair down and celebrate you for who you are?<\/p>\n

Let this video inspire and celebrate you and your people —->“Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s funny how \u201chome\u201d can mean so many things.\u00a0 It seems like most of the time we think of home as the house, apartment, shack, etc. we go to at the end of the day and the physical structure we claim as our base.\u00a0 I think for me, I use that kind of language to describe my apartment or the Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[65,64],"coauthors":[19],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-relationships","tag-connection","tag-home"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/575260_10100590625623482_17114912_47551918_1072311512_n-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions\/457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=435"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}