A person’s home is their ultimate sanctuary and place of comfort. Hence, when a child feels threatened, his first instinct is to run home, as home is the place of safety. As our homes are our private places, meant for our comfort and happiness, we tend to spend both time and money on ‘doing up’ our homes until they meet our desired level of safety, comfort, beauty and efficiency.
This is easily witnessed in the money that we spend on painting, tiling, alarm systems, electric fences, state-of-the-art appliances, furniture, linen, Italian flooring, granite counters, German bathroom fittings, air-conditioning, and so on. In fact, some people are so particular in this regard that every room of the home has its own theme to which the curtains, carpet, BIC (built in cupboards), linen and even light switches and plug points have to match!
After all the effort is undertaken and money is spent, the result is a home that is ‘tailor made’ to the exact ‘spec’ of the family living in it. Their home is exactly as they designed, providing comfort, security and even entertainment. Hence, many a home even has its own swimming pool!
In the light of the above, why is it deemed ‘sad’, ‘unfortunate’ and ‘depressing’ if a person enjoys his holiday from home? If we honestly ponder over the reality, not many hotels in the world boast the combined comforts that we enjoy at home, and even those that do have the comforts charge you through the nose for it! Even after paying the price, the pillows are not as we are used to, and so we wake up with a stiff neck. The wall between the rooms is too thin, or the corridor is too busy, and so the noise disturbs us and we cannot sleep comfortably. The shower curtain is too small and so every time we shower, the entire floor is flooded. All the lifts are full, as its peak season, so it takes 20 minutes just to get to the lobby from our floor.
If we feel for something as small as a cup of tea and are not prepared to pay the exorbitant room service rate, we are left with the option of making it ourselves in a plastic kettle that threatens to rattle its way of the counter as it boils, after which we have to resort to creamer in our tea instead of milk. Sometimes, due to flight schedules, we arrive at our hotel before the check-in time, and are forced to spend precious hours of our time waiting in the lobby, unable to even rest or freshen up after our long journey.
Let alone all, do we face even one of these inconveniences at home? The purpose of a holiday is to recharge and relax. With a change of mindset, we will realize that for most of us, our home with its comforts is actually the place most conducive to achieving that purpose. Hence, it is not necessary for us to fork out a fortune and fly off to foreign destinations whenever its holiday time.
May Allah Ta‘ala make our homes places of comfort, solace and fulfilment.