D and I have now been in Greece for the last five years. In some ways they have flown by, in others they have been a slow motion march to today. The most extraordinary thing is that if you had told me, ten years ago that this would be the life I would be living in 2014 I would not have believed you. Heck, I would have questioned your predictive skills for sure. And maybe even my future sanity.
D and I met close to eight years ago in Switzerland. We both lived in London when we fell in love. We both had well-paying jobs and a certain amount of flexibility within them. We had plenty of disposable income, which we spent mostly travelling and participating in races. In fact we spent most of our time and money training for, travelling to and talking about triathlon races. It gave our life meaning! We had friends who were the same and we were happy with our life like that - it was the small, protected world of our London life.
Fast-forward to today and almost everything has changed. We live in Greece, in a house on a mountain, a drivable distance from the centre of Athens. We are both full-time teachers (although that might soon change) at a local international primary school. We have a lot less time to train and a lot less money to travel and race. We have acquired four dogs, a passion for the mountain, some friends, but we have mostly acquired a different view of life.
We have taken huge risks in the process, made some difficult choices, lived through some truly tough times and it feels like we are completely different people now. Wiser? Not sure. Just different.
The biggest lesson we have learnt might be this: life is full of changes. We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails!
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