Buy a home for your soul

Did you see the movie Nomadland?

In a snapshot, it is about a woman who embarks on a journey through the American West after losing everything during the recession. Giving a little more away, it stars Frances McDormand (also a producer on the film) as Fern, a van-dwelling modern-day nomad who leaves her hometown after her husband dies and the sole source of employment closes down, to travel and work her way around the United States. Several real-life nomads appear as Fern’s mentors and comrades along the way, including Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells.

The film has won numerous awards this year including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress at the Academy Awards, Best Motion Picture-Drama and Best Director at the Golden Globe Awards, and Best Film at the British Academy Film Awards.

As Fern experiences life outside of traditional society, she bumps into a younger friend’s teenage daughter who says to her, “My mom says that you’re homeless. Is that true?”

Fern’s reply: “I’m not homeless. I’m just houseless. Not the same thing, right?”

That is a question to reflect on. Both home and house refer to a place of dwelling but differ in psychological and emotional meanings.

‘House’ means a particular type of building. It is a physical entity.

A home is an abode that provides peace, comfort, happiness, security, and confidence. Sanctuary.

One might say that a house is a home only because of the people living inside it.

We call people who do not have a place of their own to live ‘homeless’ but the point Fern was making was that she does have a ‘place’ that she belongs to, somewhere that her mind and heart feel at home.

When we purchase a house through a real estate transaction, referring here to a dwelling we plan to live in, most of us take more into account than physical attributes, whether we realise it or not.

We are buying into a lifestyle, a place that accommodates our hobbies and the recreational activities we enjoy, a neighbourhood that appeals to our social nature, and somewhere that will deliver us peace. In a sense, finding somewhere to live, to simply reside in, is easier than finding a home for the soul. This year, many of us have discovered we no We have invited our co-workers, business associates and even strangers into our home through virtual technology. These people have seen shots of our laundry, dishes, dirty windows, children, pets, and even the occasional sparsely clothed spouse. We’ve worked with the background sounds of birds, leaf blowers, delivery trucks, nannies and other inhabitants.

People are moving to new locations with the freedom from fixed-work locations, sometimes to far-off locations, often to new areas where they could afford bigger houses in rural locations or less congested communities.

This makes it an important time to be thinking about where the soul wants to be. The idea of home is a concept that cannot be captured with one word or a single location.

The goal should be to find peace, comfort, happiness, security and confidence when you relocate, in order to experience sanctuary. If you don’t, your soul may remain elsewhere, in a place, house or location that is deeply embedded in your bones.

“I’m not homeless, I’m just houseless. Not the same thing, right?”