Finding yourself and nobody home

Going on a journey to “find yourself” and discovering nobody is home sounds like a gag Chesterton would make frequent use of. In fact, he did! And it’s opposite, which he preferred: the man boards a ship to far off adventure, only to find himself at home.

Without self-respect, one runs away to find oneself and finds no one at home

-Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, quoted by Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me, p.321