Take a second to think about how you define home today vs. March of 2020.
You're listening to Inner Warmup where your inner work begins. I'm your host, Taylor Elyse Morrison, founder of Inner Workout. And you, as always are our expert guest. Thanks for being here today. I always like to start episodes with some type of check in or activity, just something to bring you to the space, bring you to this interview and time of reflection. And today, we're going to do something a little bit physical. So please, wherever you are, have some sense of grounding.
I'm seated. So I'm placing my feet flat on the ground. If you're standing, maybe you stand at least hips with distance apart. If you're laying down, I like to find just a little bit of space between my legs. I'll give you a second to get grounded, root as they say.
And then here, I want you to find some length, I want you to find some space between your vertebrae. And for many of us that first requires becoming aware, again, of the fact that we have the spine, these bones that are protecting our nerves. Once you've found some awareness of it, then start to create some length. Maybe that looks like lifting the crown of your head. Maybe your chest starts to open. For me, sometimes I sit and I dump into my low back. And so I feel a release in my low back as I do that. Isn't it crazy how something as simple as sitting a little taller can change how you show up? I personally feel like I carry myself differently. I carry myself more confidently when I just take a moment to do that little tweak. And with that, we'll get into the actual topic at hand.
Today's interview question is all about home. And the question is how has your definition of home evolved?
For any of these questions, you can always put your own timeframe on it. I am going to do the past year and a half, really over the course of the pandemic. And that's really because my definition of home has shifted so much. If you can bring yourself back to March of 2020, where we thought we were just gonna lock down for a couple of weeks, maybe a month, but not that long. My partner and I, we decided to go to my in laws. We figured if we were going to be locked up with a dog, we might as well go to a place that had a backyard. And so that's what we did. And two weeks turned into two months turned into a long time...and so home became living with my in laws. We got really used to suburban life. Both of us grew up in the suburbs, and we got used to being in the suburbs and having it be more quiet and less dense. Then I started coming to work at my parents in another suburb not too far away. And their place, which isn't the place that I've I grew up in, they've moved since I've left the nest, their place started to feel like a sense of home because it's where I would come to work every day. It's actually where I'm recording this podcast episode. And so I got in this cadence of living at my in laws, working from my parents, both of them feeling like home in their own way. Then we came to last October where I was working on some really exciting creative projects. I felt this urge to be home, to be in my own space and so, I moved by myself back to the city.
It was weird because I have felt like my in laws and my parents, they both felt like their own sense of home. But when I came back to this place that was decorated in the way that I liked and things were organized in a way that made sense to me and I had full control over aspects of my life that you don't always have control over of when you're a guest, even if your family, it was like oh, man, I really love this place, I really appreciate having a home like this. Now all of these three places - my place, my parents, my in laws - they feel like home in their own ways. And we joke around that Blue my dog is such a diva, and he has three homes, and he has beds at all of his homes and different toys and different people to give him neck scratches. And on that note, with home becoming less of a place, I've realized that for me at least, yes I love our place.
I love how we've decorated, I love how it feels when I come in, and I see all my plants. But that's not what makes it feel like home for me, at home is really people. Home is my mom being able to say hey, when's the last time you moved your body because we've been talking lately, and you seem really anxious. And I know that exercise normally helps you with that. That is a piece of home. Or as people begin to get vaccinated, and we get to start seeing people again, home is getting to see friends. And even if I haven't seen them in person for a long time, like getting to just falling back into step with them like we never left, even though we hadn't been in person we'd only been messaging or zooming. It's like, oh, this is a piece of home. Home is getting to go to your place and knowing where to bring the dishes down, or a friend knowing that Matt and I don't really do dairy or we try not to do dairy. And so to have a dairy free option. Like those are the little things that people do where you know that they're a piece of your home, they're home for you.
So yeah, I love this question. Because originally, at first pass, I was just gonna say this gave me a deeper appreciation for my home. And that's how it evolved. It wasn't like looking for the bigger, better home or thinking, oh, my friend has a much better place for me. I'm so grateful for our physical space. And I could have left it there and that would have been a helpful thing to know that I value my home. But I took a pause and went a little bit deeper. It's really about the people and that's a gift. What a gift to have people that feel like home.
That's how home has evolved. For me, it's gone from being one place to multiple places to people. And now I want to hear from you. How has your definition of home evolved? Reflect in whatever way you want. If you want to sit here and journal or speak back to me on the speaker, or draw or write a poem. It's your turn, and you'll hear a little ding when you've got about 15 seconds left. Okay, it's my turn to hear from you. How has home evolved?
Thanks for sharing and reflecting with me. If you want to continue the conversation, feel free to head over to our free online community. I would love to chat with you there. Thank you as always for your time and for your expertise. Take care!
