We invited Vikie Shanks, who spoke at the very first TEDxLeamingtonSpa, to share her thoughts on ‘home’.
Home! Where the heart is? Where I hang my hat? A place of safety? All of these things and so much more.
But, really, isn’t home about family?
Maybe not our genetic family, although in an ideal world our immediate family would also be our best friends and I’m very happy to say that the eight of us are, indeed, best friends!
But, if that hasn’t worked out, we always have the opportunity to create our own, specially selected family from the people we meet throughout our lives.
Those people that we instantly feel a special connection with, the ones I like to think of as my collection of the rarest, most precious gems in the entire world. Those I could not live happily without…
So, is ‘home’ the country we live in, the bricks and mortar we reside in, or the world we create for ourselves that has nothing to do with either?
I believe ‘home’ is where you feel comfortable, safe and happy.
A place without judgement of who you are or what you stand for.
A place that just feels ‘right’.
Vikie is an author, mentor, motivational speaker, and expert in autism and communication. Watch her TEDx talk about why her autistic children don’t need a “cure”, find out more about her work at www.vikieshanks.com or follow her on Twitter @VikieShanks. She also has a moving documentary just out on Netflix called The Kingdom of Us.
