I Believe In 'Home'

I struggle with wanting to live a simple life and the modern mentality of keeping up with the Joneses. I think that it is important to not allow our definition of home to be defined by commercialism and by what we read in magazines or see on tv. Easier said than done!

When I came across the I Believe In 'Home' Manifesto a few days ago, it resonated with me so much so that I had to e-mail the author, Linda, and ask if I could share it with all of you. Happily she said yes.

I Believe In 'Home'

by Linda @ Heartfire At Home

♥We believe HOME is so much more than just a shelter... it is an extension of the soul, a representation of the people within, a repository of personality.

♥ We believe HOME is a safe, nurturing, supportive and happy place, where all who abide there feel 'loved' and 'free'.

♥ We believe HOME is a soft place to fall, a welcoming place for family and friends, an incubator of dreams.

♥ We believe HOME is not held to anyone's standards but our own. There are no expectations, no 'we must keep up with the latest fads', no feeling bad if we don't have lots of money to spend on it.

♥ We believe HOME is a melting pot of ideas, emotions, laughter, pets, people, books, colour, music, conversation, scents, tastes, texture, pattern.... what-ever it is that makes your house a HOME for you.

♥ We believe decorating HOME is more about the 'gut' and the 'heart', than what's 'in' and what's 'out'.

♥ And we hope everyone can find their 'pathway HOME'.

Isn't that beautiful?

Home has been a struggle for me since I moved to Canada, a newlywed at the ripe old age of 19. I thought I knew what I was leaving behind in Australia, but the true realisation didn't hit me until I was here and suffered through a year of extreme homesickness. Home, for me, isn't about a physical location, it's about being close to the people you love.

My physical home has for years just felt like the place I was living, not a place I was committing myself to and transforming with love. This year I experienced a shift in my thinking and realised that I needed to stop waiting for some day in the future when my life would begin and would be perfect, because the life I am living every day is my life.

I decided to stop living with the aspects of my home that were just not functioning for us, and to change from the mentality of 'we will fix it in order to sell it' to 'we will fix it to live with it'. Sure, you might need to make some improvements to your house to sell it, but don't you deserve a beautiful appealing well functioning home too?

If you believe in home you can head on over to the I Believe In 'Home' Manifesto and add your name and blog to the list. You can also grab a lovely little button for your blog. I have one proudly displayed over on my sidebar.

Image source: Grzegorz Łobiński

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