I’ve lived in four different cities in just these last few years. And actually, this style of spontaneity started as a Leap. It was a post-pandemic challenge to myself: leave the comfort of sunny Southern California. Find out where I belong. Discover a new home.

Eventually, that Leap turned into a lifestyle. I loved the freedom of bouncing between cities, getting a little thrill whenever someone asked, “Wait, where are you living now?”

Last year, I landed in San Francisco with few expectations – make a few friends, eat some good food, and have a fun summer. But by the time September ended, I had signed a lease and started to put down roots.

Defining Home

Over the last year, I’ve found myself “heading home” in two directions: north and south, LA and San Francisco.

In San Francisco, I tell my friends I’m “heading home” to see my parents in LA. In LA, I tell my family about all my friends “back home” and the adventures we go on together in SF. Somewhere along the way, in less than a calendar year, my mind had designated both cities as home.

Los Angeles as home makes sense. I’ve lived there my whole life … But, why was it so easy to call San Francisco home after only 10 months?

The answer came to me this past week as I started the arduous – some might say tortuous, even – process of moving out of my apartment before I head home (word choice intentional) to LA for a few months while I figure out my next move.

Between throwing clothes into boxes and sifting through half-empty skincare, I found evidence of home: a sticky note reminding me to buy flowers for a friend, a temporary MoMA card with my name misspelled, a crumpled receipt for almond croissants from my favorite bakery in the Richmond District. Each small memento felt like proof of a life lived, of comfort and joy that had rooted itself in unexpected ways.

Even as I packed up the pieces of my life from this apartment, I didn’t feel like I was packing up home. Because, the truth is, home isn’t a physical space. It’s much more than that. It’s a feeling that you can get from a memory, or a smell, or a crumpled up receipt for almond croissants.

Making Home

Home means safety; when you feel safe, you give yourself more room to think, create, and play. You sing in the shower and dance like no one’s watching. Home is where you feel most like you. And when that sense of safety comes from within, it’s portable. You can create home wherever you go.

So, ask yourself, “What does home look like to me?” Not the color of your walls or your front door – what evokes the sensation of safety for you?

Once you know, cultivate it in your workspace, relationships, and routines. A certain comfy blanket makes you feel at home? Bring that into your office. A friend brings out the best in you? Invite them on an adventure. Sitting outside at noon always reinvigorates you? Schedule it into your workday.

Then think about how you can help others feel at home. Understanding what home means for each of your teammates and integrating one piece of their home into how you work together can shift everything.

So, go on—find your way home. The rest will follow.

P.S. Want to read more about this topic? Read the inspiration for this piece from 2021: Finding Home by Victor Saad.