Settling Down Crossbody Bag

Home. How do we define a ‘home’? Is it only one physical place? It couldn’t be, right? After all, people move and suddenly what was ‘home’ becomes a new physical place. Beyond immediate surroundings, think of the concept of ‘home’ in terms of the nation-state. “We’re home!” people shout as they exit an airport. Suddenly, ‘home’ is not a particular building (such as a house), but a vast, ambiguous space with many houses and other structures, including the natural environment. In this sense, ‘home’ is a concept in the mind that includes other people and their houses; anonymous buildings and landscapes and all the animals and plants and other organisms that inhabit this space. What about the concept of ‘home’ as a feeling? In movies, a character will recite the line, “You feel like home,” to describe the feeling of belonging, empathy, and solidarity. While these are interesting perspectives, this painting is about more than a physical place or a feeling; it is about the journey of life itself.

The entire image is a single line that begins faint and grey at the top and curves and thickens and blackens at the bottom. This represents birth–the time of life when we had no experience–to adulthood in which we have accumulated experience. The image twists and turns because life is unpredictable and includes regression. The bottom of the image is the thickest because we have finally ‘settled down’ into who and what we are. Ideally, by the time we reach late adulthood, we ‘know’ who and what we are and have accepted this. We have done the work of ‘knowing thyself’ at the subconscious level. We are no longer battered around by the winds of the world, the turbulence of life, because we have done the work of understanding our personalities, our flaws, and our habits. We understand our defenses against our own internal world. We have accepted the parts of ourselves that we rejected–or had to reject to survive. We have settled down rather than acting out for attention, admiration, or the acceptance of others.

This image is a representation of that journey to find ‘home’ in the making, in the construction of living as a process, not a place, and my hope is that every time you use your new bag, you connect with yourself at this level of awareness. Perhaps the most powerful quote to describe this is by the psychoanalytic theorist Carl Jung who said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

The Settling Down crossbody bag is made of premium faux leather and features dark gray hardware. Thanks to the zip-top closure and multiple inside pockets, you can keep your essentials secure and organized. Transform this crossbody bag with removable wrist and shoulder straps to style it for day-to-night looks.

• Outer fabric: faux leather
• Lining: 100% polyester
• 11″ × 8″ × 1.5″ (27.9 cm × 20.3 cm × 3.8 cm)
• Dark gray hardware
• Zip-top closure
• Inside zip and slip pockets
• Adjustable, removable wrist and shoulder straps
• Strap drop length: 14″- 27″

Important: To accurately view the colors and saturation of the products, please make sure your device's display settings are set to "Natural." Please also note the color of this print will be more grey at the top and darken to black at the bottom. This item cannot be shipped to Alaska, Puerto Rico, or Hawaii—and US military bases.