From London to Larnaca. Wait… what?!

If you’re an English-Cypriot mix kebab like me, you will know the dilemma I’m about to share with you already. It’s that tug in your gut, that craving you get when you just want to be content with the decision you made but somehow can’t get to grips with. The decision you made to make a life in beautiful, sunny Cyprus and leave the icy, yet prosperous, thriving London lifestyle behind.

Money vs. Happiness.

Some believe money can make you happy and yes it certainly helps, I won’t debate that. (This is why the dilemma exists in the first place.) Rarely do you find a person who is working simply because they enjoy it, we work to earn a living, even the saying ‘earn a living’ refers to the very fact that we need money to live. But if you want to go deeper than that; isn’t ‘living’ enjoying time with your loved ones in a place that makes you feel at home?

London offered me a huge pay check at the end of every month, but seldom offered me more. What do you do with an abundance of cash and no one to share it with? You eat with colleagues at expensive restaurants, save for a mortgage, and spend way too much time in Tesco looking at face-masks and pyjamas — ultimately, you get lonely.

So, you buy a ticket to go see your family in Cyprus for a well-deserved holiday.

You spend two weeks with the people you love in the country you never want to leave but won’t admit this to yourself because you have an amazing career ahead of you in another country.

Well, that went by quick. Time to go back to London.

You pack your suitcase full of gifts for colleagues (let’s face it, your only friends in London are your colleagues and the office cleaner). You’re returning to work the next day — no time to waste we have a pipeline to maintain and 128453 emails to catch up on.

And if you can only guess what happens next in your responsible adult career orientated brain — you turn into an infant and don’t get on the plane.

Realizing happiness is here in Cyprus, you send a resignation email to the company that has given you everything you could want and apologize a hundred times as you attempt to explain why you decided to stay in Cyprus at home cuddled up with the dogs on the floor while your mum is cooking a roast dinner and your brothers are watching Kung Fu Panda. (Maybe I stayed for the homemade Yorkshire Puddings and just haven’t realized it yet?)

So here I am, 4 years later and still on ‘holiday’ in Cyprus.

I’ve changed jobs 6 times, moved to 3 different apartments, all my cars have overheated and I certainly do not have an abundance for money.

What I have gained though, is my amazing family and partner who share the ups & downs of Cyprus with me and my supportive employers at HR Innovate.

Not forgetting the intoxicating smell of cow dung on the motorway (it’s definitely not the M25) and a bus that never arrives on time because the driver stops for a cheeky Greek coffee and a toasted sandwich with his pals en-route to his stop, but hey, at least I have the seaside on my doorstep.

Gotta love Cyprus.