What is Home? | Olla Abbas

What is your first reaction? If you go to the kitchen in the middle of the night, you switch on the lights, and the first thing you see is a huge cockroach on top of your kitchen counter. Now, I don't know about you, but my first instinct is to call the fire department. But then I take a few deep breaths and try to think of all the techniques Aki used to get rid of it as soon as possible before it ends up anywhere else in my house. Now, let's think of the same scenario, only this time from the cockroach's perspective. So this cockroach somehow ended up in my house, possibly an unfamiliar place. It could be lost, looking for its family or a place to live. But every time it tries to do so, it finds itself in extreme danger. And even if I don't manage to get rid of it completely, the least I do is send it a very clear message that you're unwelcome, you're unwanted, and you don't belong in my house. And I know this is a silly way to look at it, but if I think about it, this situation does represent a familiar feeling to a lot of us. When I was a teenager, I had to say goodbye to that place I called home for 17 years of my life. And that was because the country I was born in didn't have a path to citizenship for children of immigrant parents. So eventually, we had to leave. I still remember the day I stood in the hallway of my home, scanning it for the very last time. And in my heart, I made a promise to myself that I will find a place where I belong. A place that I'm going to call home. Fast forward. A couple of years later, one of my dreams came true and I joined Mindvalley. I started to organize events that I'm super passionate about, traveling the world and achieving big goals. And one day, I was on my way to Costa Rica for a fest that I'm organizing with the team. That trip took four exhausting flights to finally reach my destination. And when I reached the immigration counter, my teammate made it through. And when it was my turn, the officer looked at my passport and to my worst nightmare, said, you don't have the right visa. We're sending you back. That flight back felt like a time capsule that brought me back and triggered all the feelings I had when I was standing, standing in that hallway of my home as a teenager, forced to leave and feeling unwelcome, unwanted, and didn't belong. My flight landed in Miami in the middle of the night. I had no suitcase, no local number, and no place to stay. I found someone selling SIM cards, so I quickly bought one and desperately looked for an Airbnb that will take me in immediately. And luckily, I found one. Maria greeted me at the door of her humble house, a lovely lady in her 40s who lived with her son. I stayed in Maria's house for the next couple of days. And while I was there, Maria went above and beyond to help me get back to the event in time. I mean, she could have just told me how to get to the embassy, for example, but instead, she drove me there. She waited inside the embassy with me. She helped me get all my documents together. And when we were done with all of that, she looked at me and she was like, you know what? You're too stressed. I'm going to take you to the beach so you can relax a little. And in the end, things didn't work out. And I was really, really sad to miss the event. But at the same time, I had this feeling of blessing or gratitude, and I was really confused by that. I just missed an event that I worked really hard for. Why would I feel that way? And eventually, it dawned on me as I was sitting in my Airbnb room, that I have finally found what I've always been looking for. I found home. And it wasn't this physical place that I thought that I'd been searching for for years, but it was the embrace of a stranger that did not make me feel like a cockroach in someone else's kitchen, but rather welcome, wanted. And I felt like I belonged. And this is just my own story, but you could have experienced the feeling of not belonging at home, when you're constantly being forced to be someone that you're not. Or maybe at work, where you're bullied for the simple fact that you look different. Or maybe even among friends when you need to hide because you're secretly in love with someone of the same gender. And most of the time, we don't have the power to change the environment around us so we can feel at home. But by embracing others with kindness, we have the power to provide a home for someone else every single day. So I invite you, as you go through your own journey this weekend, is to see every conversation as an opportunity to provide shelter and be the Maria in someone else's life. And in a word, filled with homelessness. Let us be the community that builds empires for others to call home. Thank you, Sam.