As I’ve just travelled for more than 2 days all the way to New Zealand, many of my close ones may think that I’m away.

But that’s not true. I’m here.  I’m always here.

When you think about the origin of being away, you get to a story of ways. Ways lead to being away. When someone takes a way, they vanish from the world of their close ones as they wave (or wayve?) them goodbye. The families and friends that were left behind, observe their loved one slowly fading into the unknown, as they get smaller and smaller. Gone.

But they are never gone. The explorers’ world continues to exist and expands as a new world emerges with every new step on their new way. Experience.

The world of the ones staying at home seems to crumble a little. While the world for the explorer offers new crumbs to chase like Hans and Grittle did. But both worlds continue to exist. In parallel, both need to find their way, filling in the voids by finding their own crumbs that match the gaps.

But being away is something that the traveller can experience or not. Then, the concept of home emerges. What the traveller experiences as home, is tied to the sense of being away. The true nomad cowboy who says that “everywhere I lay my hat is my home” will not experience the sense of being away. He is always here. He is always home.

But then we need to ask ourselves, what does being at home mean? As cheesy as it sounds, home is a feeling and not a place. Home is, or should be, a space where all the needs are met for one to feel safe, loved and fulfilled in all directions. My girlfriend went along with me on our travel, so a large part of my “home” moved with her wherever I go. Until now i don’t miss food from my home country, as it is quite similar in New Zealand. But my friends and family aren’t replaced here. So, their absence does give me a sense of being away.

The discrepancy between the two, home and away, relates to the concept of relativity that I discuss in my book of living (which you can download below for free). We have the conscious mind that relates two things to each other, and a discrepancy can cause emotions. For the cowboy, the reference frame of home moves along with the new space he visits. Therefore, he does not experience much emotions, such as home sickness. He has, shifting baselines, as he is very flexible. While on the other hand, when someone who has a very specific place tied to their sense of home, and the more the new place deviates from their sense of home, the more emotions are experienced. For the cowboy, his original home slowly vanishes. For the traveller with home sickness, the original home gets more intense.

Altogether, each space takes care of certain needs and for many, home is a place that fulfills most of them; friends, work, family, and a comfortable place to stay. Being away lacks often on one of those aspects, depending on the purpose of traveling. On the other side of the coin, a lack of fulfillment of those needs at home can also cause one to explore and travel. Currently, while I’m traveling my need for income isn’t fulfilled making my travel not long-term sustainable, what gives me a sense of being away (plus the lack of family).

Settling in a new space, creating a new home would require me to find a job there, and start my own family. This is one of the options for me and my partner. But this is a whole process of building up new structures in the yet determined place while letting go of the structures of the past. Who knows, i don’t.