This is Home

When I retired from life on the hamster wheel, it didn’t take just a couple of boxes to pack the stuff.  It took two men and a truck.  My office furniture was dad’s before he retired.  It was comforting to have a piece of him around since work was where I got to know him the best as a teenager and young adult.  He taught me how to survive in the politically charged, male dominated business world.  I love him and the memories of talking with him in his office.

Consequently, there was no question that everything had to be moved into our home somewhere and somehow.  Because I was still in a state of non-creative self-induced shock, everything went back on the bookshelves the same as it had been.  All the once relevant stuff from conference badges to department gag gifts to finance text books decorated my new space.  It was organized and safe.

It took exactly three months to figure out why I didn’t feel at home in my new office. 

Home was cluttered with loved, yet now irrelevant, things that kept me looking back.  Someday, some of it will be put into a scrapbook.  Today, however, everything that doesn’t feel future focused is being placed in a big box in a storage closet. 

The more “stuff” I move out, the more of me moves in. 

There are windows on three sides of the room, all of which are standing wide open.  There is a breeze blowing, the birds are singing and I’m sweating like a dog.  There is no snow globe effect here.  (The details on that will be a future post.)  I finally feel like this is not just a vacation that’s going to end come Monday morning.

A moment ago, the words of “This Is Home” by Switchfoot filled the room. It’s been a homecoming in a literal and figurative sense. 

• Coming home to a lite space for lite thoughts.
• Coming home to work that supports a healthy family lifestyle (and vice versa). 
• Coming home to my essential self and right brained strengths.  
• Coming home to physical and spiritual self care. 

Switchfoot and I sang a prayer of gratitude and freedom as I closed up the box of memorabilia. 

 

“This is Home”
   Switchfoot

I’ve got my memories always inside of me,
But I can’t go back, back to how it was.
I believe you now. I’ve come too far.
No, I can’t go back, back to how it was.
Created for a place I’ve never known.

Chorus:
This is home.
Now I’m finally where I belong, where I belong.
Yeah, this is home.
I’ve been searching for a place of my own.
Now I’ve found it.  Maybe this is home.
Yeah, this is home.

Belief over misery, I’ve seen the enemy,
And I won’t go back, back to how it was.
And I got my heart set on what happens next.
I got my eyes wide, it’s not over yet.
We are miracles and we’re not alone.

And now, after all my searching,
After all my questions, I’m gonna call it home.
I got a brand new mindset.
I can finally see the sunset.
I’m gonna call it home.

Now I know, yeah, this is home.

I’ve come too far and I won’t go back.
Yeah, this is home.

 

As for the furniture, it passed the future focused challenge with flying colors.  While dad taught me corporate survival skills, he also passed along some basic life principles:  the importance of acting with integrity, the value of trusting your intuition, and how to look forward, rather than behind, for growth opportunity.  (I will side with those who argue that these are corporate survival skills as well.  Unfortunately, many players in the business world either didn’t learn them, or simply choose not to practice them, and are now struggling or obsolete.  But I digress…)

Since part of my “coming home” didn’t involve moving “back home,” it is still comforting to have this piece of him around every day for literal and symbolic support. 

Can your sense of home be enhanced by a little future focused spring cleaning?

Wishing you the peace of being home where ever you might be.