You're listening to As I Wander with Lauren Lanoue. I am, of course, Lauren Lanoue, and this is the very first episode.
This is a podcast about finding home or making it right where we are on our own unique journeys. It's for the one who isn't quite sure where they belong at the moment. Whether you're a nomad, a misfit, or an outcast. This podcast is for you.
Whatever brings you here, and whatever you've brought with you. Welcome. Every piece of you.
In this episode, you'll hear a little about me, your host Lauren Lanoue, and a small taste of what we’ll talk about on this podcast.
For these next few minutes, kick back, relax, and enjoy because you're home.
And I’m so happy you’re here.
This is the very first episode of this podcast and I'm so excited and also a little nervous. And that's on being human.
You'll hear me talk about that quite a lot. Being human. It's something that all of us have in common which is hard to find these days.
You may be wondering who in the world is Lauren Lanoue
And while it's hard to peg anyone down in just a few short minutes of conversation, here are a few of the important bits.
My name is Lauren Lanoue. I live in the mountains of North Carolina with my 4-year-old daughter and my husband/best friend, Robbie.
Just before 2020, we moved back to the USA after living abroad in Czech Republic (now Czechia) where we had lived for 4 years--Hi to all my friends listening over there.
You'll here me talk about traveling quite a bit because that 4 years living abroad changed me for good…or bad depending on your perspective. But I will always say it was for the better.
And while you will hear a lot about my adventures abroad, you'll also hear me talk about normal, everyday life because all of our journeys, no matter how exciting they seem from the outside looking in, include adventures both big and small.
In my every day life, I am a writer, teacher, learner, mom, wife, singer/songwriter, Enneagram 9, traveler, crafter, a Christ follower on an evolving and growing faith journey, and now, a podcast host.
I have been a preacher's kid, a classroom teacher, a worship leader, a stay-at-home mom, an English as a second language teacher, an expat, and a missionary.
With this list I've given you, you may find it tempting to put me in a box with your own set of labels thinking you've got me pegged.
But within each of the titles that I hold or have held, there's a story or multiple stories.
The same is true for you.
And that's one of the reasons I'm here--to share those stories and what they've taught me and are still teaching me about the art of belonging, the practice of self-compassion, and the process of growth.
And while I don't consider myself a religious teacher, you’ll hear me talk about faith and spirituality sometimes, too, because those things are still part of me even though they may be evolving and growing.
The longer I live and the more I learn and grow, the more I realize how little I really know.
If you're looking for answers to your questions, you probably won't find them here.
What you will find is a community of people including myself passionate about learning and growing together and a place to belong as we ask those hard questions.
There's space here for all of us to grow and change, and learn more about ourselves and others and to learn how to share more of our authentic selves.
I believe that life is a journey unique to each of us, and this can be lonely, and it can make you feel like you don't belong anywhere,
But what if home, that place you always belong, can be right here even as we wander?
You'll hear me talk about home quite a bit.
And I realize that word home can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and so I recently posed this question to our friends on Instagram, and here are some of the responses I was given:
More than one of you said that home makes you think of the word cozy.
One person said home is safety, togetherness, and peace.
Another described home as belonging and acceptance. "and cozy blankets" which I thought was hilariously accurate.
Another friend said that their idea of what home is depended on what their soul needed at that particular time.
And my lovely husband said he's home whenever he's with me and our kiddo…I have to say that one was my favorite.
There are some of us who struggle to define the word home because they've never experienced having a safe and cozy place to land.
While most of us recognize that home is not necessarily a physical place, it is different for everyone
Home can be a person, it can be a community. We find home in jobs and titles. We find home in our faith and beliefs. We find home in surprising places and yet maybe it’s not so surprising.
On top of all of this, our concept of home changes and grows just as WE change and grow.
Perhaps this is why it's so difficult to define succinctly.
And each response I received about what home means begged more questions.
This response for example:
“home is where you return when there's no where else to go."
But what happens when we can't go back there anymore? What happens when we no longer feel we belong in the place we’ve always belonged? What happens when we've outgrown it or it doesn't feel safe for us anymore? What happens when home stops feeling like home?
Which is where I think a lot of us have found ourselves these days.
So many of us have lost our homes over the last few years. There's been loss of normal, loss of community, loss of beliefs, loss of certainty, many of us have left jobs or left our spiritual communities like church.
Whether you’ve lost a home, chosen to leave, or never had one in the first place,
You may find yourself in this wide open space, some call it the wilderness or the desert because it can feel desolate. It can leave you feeling exposed and vulnerable, and unsure of which direction to go next…
I love hiking and being in the woods, but it's scary being out there without a clear path to take, having to choose a direction when one hasn't been laid out before you…
Life's journey is much the same…and sometimes there are only the paths you've already traveled, and perhaps you can't go back and everything within you knows it. And you have to make home somewhere…but where?
It can be lonely out here wandering in this messy middle place. They call it no-man's land for a reason, and yet if you'll take a moment to notice, you're not alone. There are so many others just like you, who sometimes feel lost, maybe even homeless…
But we're not really lost or we're never really without a home if we learn to find it or recognize it on our way.
And when home is nowhere to be found, we can make it for ourselves, and even though home is unique to each of us just like our journeys are, we can choose to make home together.
We value true belonging and community here, and we know those don't always just happen. It takes work. Just like anything that is worth cultivating.
And that's something I hope to do here with this podcast and my writing…cultivate a sense of home, community, & belonging within ourselves and with others.
This is a community for those of us who need a safe space, somewhere we can be completely ourselves, where we're accepted for all the pieces, broken or whole, that make up the fabric of who we truly are…
That is what home is to me.
And this community we're building, you belong here. Every piece of you.
While you do the hard work of finding or making home wherever you are on your own unique journey, we'll be here learning to do the same, right along with you.
You can belong here while you find your own. You can belong here while you wander and find your way.
There's a famous phrase, I know you've all heard it even if you’re not sure of its origin (it’s from JRR Tolkien for those who need to know) — that is “not all who wander are lost." I have a precious piece of artwork on my desk that says this which inspired the title of this podcast.
but it's not that part of the artwork that speaks to me most. It's the other side of the wooden block. Scribbled on the back with a black Sharpie, written in my dear friend’s handwriting, it reads, “Be fearless on the journey and embrace every place it takes you.”
As much as I love the famous quote on the front, this is the side of the artwork that I prefer to have facing me as a I work or write because it reminds me, yes, I'm not lost,
and I'm also not alone.
You're not lost even if you feel that way at the moment.
You're exactly where you're meant to be.
And you're not alone.
So May YOU be fearless on your journey and embrace every place it takes you as we learn to find home or make it wherever we find ourselves and as we find ourselves.
After all, home can be right here even as we wander.
Thank you for listening to this very first episode of As I Wander with Lauren Lanoue. I hope this episode has given you a little taste of what this podcast is all about and a little hope that you're not alone even though your journey is your own.
Some of what you have heard here on this podcast can be found in written form on my blog. You can read more of my writing or sign up for my newsletter at LaurenLanoue.com, and I'd love for you to join the community by following me on TikTok and Instagram, both at LaurenLanoue where I'd love to hear what home means to you, at least in this moment in time.
Thank you so much for listening today, and I can't wait to meet you here again soon.
Until next time, rest easy and travel well.
Here's to finding home wherever we make it.
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