“There’s no place like home” never feels more true for us than during the fall and winter season. The extra holiday time with family and reliving traditions from childhood can bring us feelings of comfort and joy that infuse a sense of wonder to the whole season. But during the holidays, it is also easy to get totally overwhelmed by all there is to see and do. From holiday parties to family traditions to kids’ school events, from October to January, it often feels like there is something booked in every free moment. It can be hard not to feel run down as you’re hopping from place to place and party to party.
But that’s why, even as you’re spending time with family and friends this fall and winter season, it’s also important to help find that sense of home in yourself. And the more you can create a sense of home for yourself, a sense of belonging that gives you those warm and comforting feelings inside, the more you can feel grounded and calm even during the whirlwind of the season, too. So this week in the journal, we’re sharing several unexpected places to find home. If you can tap into even one of these places, you may start to feel at home in your own body and mind. And if you’re able to build these into a routine or a practice, that sense of home can be carried with you all season long. Here are our five unexpected places to find home so you can feel at home anywhere:
You may be asking yourself — what exactly is a grounding technique? Well it can be many things. Typically it’s a set of strategies that help get you out of cyclical thoughts (be those thoughts anxious or the feelings of overwhelm that so often permeate our minds when we’re super busy), and into your body. Bringing you back to the body can happen several ways, and there are a plethora of grounding techniques out there. You can do anything from box breathing to calm your breath — this is when you breathe in for four counts, hold your breath for four counts, breathe out for four counts, and hold for four counts, before breathing again. This helps bring you breathing into a deeper pattern, avoiding more shallow breathing. You can also try stepping into grass if it’s available to you, and letting your bare feet touch the ground. Or, even meditation is one way to help ground yourself. Set a timer, slip into your silky floral robe, and meditate for just five minutes. Even just five minutes a day of meditation can help bring your mind to a calmer place and give you a little extra space to breathe and think through problems before reacting to them. Other techniques might be to exercise, take a walk, stimulate your senses with a scented candle or silky floral robe or a plush blanket.
Sometimes in our striving to show up for everyone and everything, we forget that showing up imperfectly is still showing up! It can feel daunting to have to head out to another party or event, but you may feel compelled to because you long for connection with friends. Or perhaps you are working from home and wishing you could connect more with family, but there never seems to be enough time. Our suggestion is to make imperfect plans. Maybe you aren’t able to go out to dinner with your bestie, but perhaps instead you each slip into your favorite kimono cardigans and make a phone date. It doesn’t even have to be a Zoom! Just connecting with the ones you love can remind you of home, and make you feel more like yourself in the midst of the busiest time of year.
At KIM+ONO, one of the reasons we created our silk robes for women was to bring our co-founders’, sisters Renee and Tiffany Tam, family heritage into modern designs. Heritage has always given us an at-home feeling. And honoring heritage, or even just nostalgia, can go a long way in helping you find your own sense of home. Whether it’s something nostalgic like watching a movie you loved as a kid, or something that brings out your heritage like making your grandmother’s favorite recipe, bringing heritage and nostalgia into your daily life is a daily reminder that you are connected to something larger — and that something larger is your home.
We have always been inspired by nature and that’s part of the reason why we crafted botanical designs for our floral kimono robes. Wrapping up in a silky floral robe with a beautiful botanical design is almost as good as being in nature itself. And one way to feel at home in an unexpected way, is to actually bring the outdoors indoors! That could be done with a floral kimono robe of course, but it could also be done with interior design elements. Bringing rocks, leaves, branches, and flowers from your neighborhood or garden is such a satisfying way to bring a bit of nature into your space. And the benefits are exponential.
Above all, one tried and true way to feel at home is to feel good in your own skin. One of our guiding principles when thinking about the materials, designs, and cuts of our silk robes for women is we want anyone who slips into these kimono cardigans to feel confident in their own skin. Find the pieces that make you feel that way, and it’s a great way to bring yourself back home to yourself. Or, take a luxurious bath with bath salts or special skincare for a nightly routine that makes you feel rested and refreshed. Or, eat a meal that always feels you up and leaves you feeling energized. Whatever you do to make yourself feel good in your own skin, remember that feeling at home in your body is one of the kindest things you can do for yourself.
We hope you discovered how to feel at home anywhere. Tell us, how do you find a sense of home?
