This week I’ve been thinking about home. Not just the physical place where we live, but the place that becomes part of our identity. The place where we belong and the place that belongs to us.
I watched the movie Away We Go on my friend, Rob’s, recommendation. It was his favorite movie of 2009 so I dropped it into my Netflix queue. It’s a sweet story about two people who are about to start a family and want to find the perfect place to live. They trek across the country and up to Montreal. Eventually they end up in a place that neither of them ever imagined being the perfect place because they’d been there before. And there it was. Perfect, and so easy.
This week was the series finale of Ugly Betty. I became a fan late in the series, and really ended up loving the kitschy, wink-wink-nudge-nudge humor. What I really loved was Betty’s desire to try to do the right thing, work hard, and follow her heart. In the end of the series, her heart lead her to a tough decision to make a new home, even when staying where she’d always been was a good deal, too.
In Real Simple Magazine this month, I read a story about a couple whose newly renovated home caught fire. They considered moving to Bali, rebuilding the house they had lost, and everything in-between. Eventually, they stayed on their property and developed a very unique new home from two structures that they had never considered turning into a house. It was in the same place, but an entirely new idea of home.
I guess sometimes we can go home again, sometimes we’re better off making our own way, far away, and other times, we can stay where we are and make it new again. I traveled a lot in my 20’s and moved around all the time. Now I’m nearly 3 years in to my 3rd return to New York. I haven’t lived in any one city for this long since I was 18 years old. I’m glad to be making a little nest of my own, and I have to admit that from time to time I wonder if there will be another home chapter after NYC or if I’m really here to stay.
I’d love to hear your perspectives on the idea home.
The image above is not my own. It can be found here.
Published by Christa Avampato
The short of it:
Writer. Health, education, and art advocate. Theater and film producer. Visual artist. Product geek. Proud alumnae of the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA). Inspired by ancient wisdom & modern tech. Proliferator of goodness. Opener of doors. Friend to animals. Fan of creative work in all its wondrous forms. I use my business skills to create passion projects that build a better world. I’ve been called the happiest New Yorker, and I try hard to live up to that title every day.
The long of it:
My career has stretched across Capitol Hill, Broadway theatre, education, nonprofit fundraising, health and wellness, and Fortune 500 companies in retail, media, entertainment, technology, and financial services. I’ve been a product developer and product manager, theater manager, strategic consultant, marketer, voice over artist, , teacher, and fundraiser. I use my business and storytelling to support and sustain passion projects that build a better world. In every experience, I’ve used my sense of and respect for elegant design to develop meaningful products, services, programs, and events.
While building a business career, I also built a strong portfolio as a journalist, novelist, freelance writer, interviewer, presenter, and public speaker. My writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, PBS.org, Boston.com, Royal Media Partners publications, and The Motley Fool on a wide range of topics including business, technology, science, health, education, culture, and lifestyle. I have also been an invited speaker at SXSW, Teach for America, Avon headquarters, Games for Change, NYU, Columbia University, Hunter College, and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. The first book in my young adult book series, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, was acquired by a publisher and launched in November 2017. I’m currently working on the second book in the series.
A recovering multi-tasker, I’m equally at home in front of my Mac, on my yoga mat, walking my rescue dog, Phineas, traveling with a purpose, or practicing the high-art of people watching. I also cut up small bits of paper and put them back together as a collage artist.
My company:
I’m bringing together all of my business and creative career paths as the Founder of Double or Nothing Media:
• I craft products, programs, and projects that make a difference;
• I build the business plans that make what I craft financially sustainable;
• I tell the stories that matter about the people, places, and products that inspire me.
Follow my adventures on Twitter at https://twitter.com/christanyc and Instagram at https://instagram.com/christarosenyc.
View all posts by Christa Avampato
This week I’ve been thinking about home. Not just the physical place where we live, but the place that becomes part of our identity. The place where we belong and the place that belongs to us. 
Christa Avampato 
Christa:
Whether you stay home or move away, what’s important to remember is to find your being and to stay centered.
Meditation is the way to radiate with inner bliss and joy.
You already have enormous potential: it is just a matter of discovering it. It lies dormant, waiting for a hello.
Let me explain.
I have been restless my entire life, always searching for greener pastures. I traveled here, there, everywhere I could find; but travel was not a fulfilling experience for me.
Then I discovered something: maybe the act of physical travel was not what I was searching for. So, I started to travel within my own self, that great undiscovered country they call the soul, the seat of learning. And I found bliss.
The moral of the story? You don’t have to run helter-skelter to find what you are looking for in your life. You already have it. Go within to discover that wisdom.
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Archan – I love you use of travel within. What a powerful, fulfilling journey to be on. I’ve been taking your meditation advice and have been spending 18 minutes per day doing it. I’ve never been able to do that before and am learning so much from the practice. I’m letting go of things in my life that sap my energy and seeking out what gives me energy. I can feel myself getting stronger every day. Did you eventually find a place that did feel like home after all your travels and meditations?
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Christa:
How nice of you to respond.
18 minutes sounds like a plan: it is a great start. Wow!
I wish I had your self-discipline when I started out.
Gosh, I couldn’t sit still even for five seconds. I was trained in sports, where you’ve got to keep on moving. Sports is physical, whereas with meditation it is a different ball-game. Meditation felt counter-intuitive for me.
And that’s just one of the reasons I found meditation difficult. I was also high-strung. (Not strung out, okay?).
My mind wandered all over the place when I first started the practice. I was a lousy student, to be honest. Since I could not find a decent guru, I had to train myself. As a late bloomer, it took me longer to find a way out.
You are in need of healing; you want to feel whole again; you are trying to overcome challenges you faced during your childhood. That’s why I feel we are kindred spirits.
We are not on the same journey, but a similar one.
Some people claim to have “arrived” like the Buddha. I am not an enlightened master yet, but I am on the journey.
The destination I have not yet reached, but I am optimistic. I have continued with meditation for several years, and now it is a daily habit.
I cannot imagine my life without it, and I am glad it is working out for you too.
That’s why I recommended it, because I had a hunch it would work for you as well. I felt like reaching out to you in order to help you. Please keep on meditating every day.
Meditating every day has helped me in so many areas of my work-life that it could fill volumes. Yes, I finally found a place that I could call home: within my own self. Cheers!
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