Home is You
WELCOME HOME: BY NAJWA ZEBIAN
Some books meet you exactly where you are. Welcome Home was one of those books for me as when I first read it, it was during a time of deep transition as I was moving through a devastating break up. The kind of break up where you both still love one another so deeply, but you realize you just can’t be together. Love, at times, is not enough. Hard truth to swallow.
The book’s words resonated in a way that felt deeply personal—almost as if the author had placed a mirror in front of me, reflecting back my own experiences. Too often, we build our sense of security in other people—partners, family, friends—without realizing we are constructing our homes on shaky ground. When our worth is tied to someone else’s approval or presence, what happens when they leave? What happens when they change? Welcome Home is a call to stop outsourcing our sense of belonging and instead return to the one place we should always feel safe: ourselves. The most important home you will ever build is the one within yourself. Depending on others to create this home for you is risky—it places your worth in their hands rather than your own.
She describes how, for years, she unknowingly placed her sense of security in others, only to realize that this foundation was unstable. Like many of us, she had spent so much time trying to find a home in relationships, validation, or external success—without realizing that home had to be built within herself first.
“Repeat after me.
My home is within me. I come to myself first for worth, love and validation. I do not abandon myself to be welcomed by others, or to keep them from abandoning me.”
This realization isn’t just about self-love; it’s about self-trust. It’s about creating a space within yourself where you feel safe, grounded, and whole—a place where your identity is not dependent on the approval of others.
When we lack an internal sense of home, we seek others to provide it for us—whether through romantic relationships, social approval, or career success.
The Five Rooms of Self-Discovery
To illustrate this journey, Zebian introduces the metaphor of building a house, where each room represents a crucial part of self-growth. These rooms don’t have to be explored in a linear order, and we can return to them as needed:
Self-Love – Learning to meet yourself with kindness and acceptance.
Compassion – Understanding your struggles and embracing your imperfections.
Forgiveness – Letting go of past pain and freeing yourself from resentment.
Clarity – Seeing yourself clearly, separate from societal expectations.
Surrender – Releasing control and allowing life to unfold as it’s meant to.
Before stepping into these rooms, Zebian emphasizes the importance of building a strong foundation first. This foundation is rooted in self-awareness and self-acceptance—the two most essential elements in creating a lasting sense of security and inner peace.
Why This Book Stays With You
Unlike other self-help books offering quick-fix solutions, Welcome Home is an invitation into deep reflection and intentional growth. It doesn’t just provide insights—it offers tools, journal prompts, and exercises to help you actively shape your inner world.
For me, this book was a guide that encouraged me to question where I had been placing my sense of belonging and to begin shifting that focus inward. The author’s words stayed with me long after I turned the last page, reminding me that true security isn’t found in external relationships—it’s cultivated within myself.
This is why many say that the relationship you have with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship in your life. Building a home within yourself doesn’t mean shutting others out—it means creating an internal space where you feel safe, whole, and deeply rooted in your own worth. It’s between you and you alone, no one else.
At the end of the day, home isn’t a place, a person, or a destination.
