Writing again.. — What Now NYC

It took me some time to get back to my writing. I have been so busy with a new job, new facet in my career, new life developments. But I’m committed to writing again. I love it and I love that my words bring comfort to my friends and people who don’t really even know me. Moving to a new country, starting all over at the age of 40. It was one of the hardest things I have ever faced in my life. But I did it, and I am thriving. I am now 42 and I can honestly say that I was brave. I walked away from a life that was not fulfilling me any longer and I started all over. I didn’t have a lot of money in the bank, I didn’t have a ton of family and friends in my new home, but I had myself. I could trust that no matter what I was going to be able to pick myself up and keep moving forward.

This transition has not been easy in the slightest, but I can tell you that I am turning a corner and I’m feeling more and more at home every day. I have begun to form a very good circle of friends. My family visits often, usually the summer months. My life is divided now between my pre-Greece life and my current life. I feel the pull as two different people when I travel back to the states (which is quite often) and then come home to Athens. I live in between two very different worlds, two sets of friends, two cuisines, two languages. It’s surreal. As I sit here on my balcony on a perfect spring day with the sun shining I know without a doubt I did the right thing moving here. I will head into the 3rd year of my new life in Greece. I will look at this past year and think of all that I have accomplished. If I looked back on my life to all of the times that I struggled, to all the times that I didn’t want to get out of bed, and then I think of where I am now, I can’t help but feel amazed by the nature of human resilience. When I think of how with only one choice, one very big choice, I completely changed my life, it reminds me that once again, we can all change our paths and our lives if we really want to. It’s not easy, in fact it’s F***ing hard, but in the end what is life if we don’t take risks? What is life if we don’t stand on the edge of the world and say “I don’t care anymore about failing”. If I fail I fail, and then I’ll figure out how to get back up again. But if I win, it will all have been worth it. The way I am feeling at this moment, in my beautiful home in my beautiful new country is that I won. I have won the life that I have always wanted. I will continue to strive for what I want in life, because how I feel is, why not? I’ve been at the bottom, and I will most likely be there again one day, because that's how it goes. The most important thing though is that we remember we will not always be at the bottom. We will get up, we will fall and get up so many more times. My mantra to myself for 2023 is, You did it. You made it work and I am so proud of you.

Athens, here’s to many more amazing years ahead!