My children, Stanley and Sassy
This week, I moved back in to my home.
My Sanctuary. The room and the furniture and the world art that is so familiar. “Home,” and the concept thereof, is a crucial part of my success. I am incredibly lucky to have always had a stable, loving home. My parents are still married. They still live in the house that I grew up in. I went to school with the same kids from Kindergarten through High School graduation. It was Americana. It was easy. And because I never had to worry about these “givens” in my life, I was able to be a successful and passionate student, traveler, and leader. The stability gave me confidence.
As I’m now almost a decade out of high school (yikes!), the importance of a stable home in my life has not waned. While I’ve moved around Southern California a number of times, I’ve had an incredible apartment for almost three years now. It’s huge. It has a balcony overlooking the Hollywood hills. There’s ample parking– which you know is HUGE if you’ve ever lived in L.A. This is my space (as opposed to MySpace)… and I love it.
No stereotypes please
What’s been difficult about having such a lovely home… is that it’s made it hard to leave. To challenge myself to seek the unfamiliar. A crutch, if you will.
That’s why the past six months of my life have been so crucial for me. I packed up, found a subletter, and moved to Ohio. Then I traveled to New York. Then DC. Then back to New York. Then back to San Francisco. I couch surfed in Los Angeles- only .7 miles away from my own apartment while my subletter finished up her time here. I lived out of my suitcase and off the generosity of my friends and family.
And now am I home again.
I unlocked my storage space and sifted through the items I dubbed “unnecessary” for my survival six months ago. And it’s amazing to me how many of these items are still unnecessary. In fact, that’s been my favorite part of returning. The distance between myself and my material belongings has allowed me to reassess my relationship with these possessions.
My talented Gramoo's artwork
And then the CLEANING started. If I didn’t remember that I owned it, I threw it out this week. If I hadn’t missed it… it was gone. It was a therapeutic way for me to create the space around myself that I need to thrive. Deliberate. Methodical. I asked myself important questions about what I wanted to be surrounded by. And it finally feels right.
And it feels like home again.
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Janelle K. Eagle is infamous for always having her hands tied up in multiple projects simultaneously. She's directed a lot of theater, worked on some films, and raised lots of money for non-profits. She travels all the time and loves to share her videos, photography and writing via this blog. 
Very interesting. Have you been to Texas yet?…Andre