I realized home is wherever you're surrounded by positive people

The words of Snoh Aalegra—“I realized home is wherever you’re surrounded by positive people who love and support you”—resound with the eternal wisdom that home is not a place of stone and wood, but a sanctuary of souls. The earth is vast, cities rise and fall, and roofs may crumble, yet the heart is never homeless so long as it is sheltered by the embrace of those who care. This truth has been whispered by sages of every age: the truest dwelling is not built by hands, but by hearts.

The origin of this wisdom can be found in the earliest tribes of humankind. Long before temples and palaces, men and women gathered around fire and song. Their home was not the cave nor the tent, but the circle of kin who laughed together, mourned together, and defended one another. Where there was love and support, there was belonging. And where these were absent, even the richest palace was but an empty shell. Snoh’s words are but a modern echo of this ancient law of the spirit.

Consider the story of Anne Frank, hidden in the Secret Annex. She lived not in comfort, not in freedom, but in fear and confinement. Yet within those walls, through the courage and devotion of her family and protectors, she found glimpses of hope. Though the space was small and the world outside hostile, she still wrote of beauty, still believed in goodness. Why? Because within that fragile shelter she was not alone—she was surrounded by love, the essence of home, even in the darkest of times.

Think also of the journeys of the exiled and the displaced throughout history—the wandering Israelites, the African diaspora, the refugees of war. Many were torn from their lands, stripped of their houses, cast into strange and hostile places. Yet they carried home within them, in song, in shared memory, in the arms of their people. Wherever they gathered to tell stories, to sing hymns, to nurture one another, they rebuilt what stone walls could not provide. In this way, home transcended geography and became the enduring bond of community.

The lesson of Snoh’s words is both tender and strong: do not seek home only in structures or possessions, for these pass away. Seek it in the company of positive people, those who uplift rather than diminish, who strengthen rather than drain, who rejoice in your victories and stand firm in your trials. To remain among those who wound your spirit is to exile yourself even in your own house; but to dwell among those who love you is to carry a sanctuary wherever you go.

Practical wisdom calls us to act: choose your circle with discernment. Nurture bonds with those who radiate support, who inspire growth, who make you feel not lesser, but greater. Be willing to release the company of those whose shadows darken your days. And above all, be yourself such a presence for others—be the one who makes others feel at home, no matter where the road has carried them. For in giving this gift, you too dwell in its warmth.

Thus, let this truth be passed on as sacred counsel: home is not where you were born, nor where you sleep, nor even where you return at night—it is where your soul is welcomed, where your spirit is seen, and where your being is loved. If you find such a place, guard it well. If you have not yet found it, create it through kindness, through loyalty, through the courage to love without condition. For in the end, the greatest palace is not made of stone—it is made of people.