About me
My story
My childhood dream was to be the wife of a diplomat, not because of the status or the money, but rather because of the possibility to live abroad and travel frequently. This dream, however, doesn’t display much of my independence and strength, but I was only 5 years old, and I grew up in a “socialist” country where travelling was restricted till the 90s.
As a teenager, I immersed myself in studying foreign languages both in school and as an extra-curricular activity. As soon as the borders opened after the fall of the Berlin wall, I signed up for exchange programs and convinced my parents to holiday abroad. The adventures began.
During my university years, I spent the majority of my free time and money travelling across Europe, and I journeyed to lots of festivals and international cultural events with my Hungarian folk-dance group too.
I did get married, albeit not to a diplomat, but my dream became a reality: we moved to Greece due to my husband’s work. My life changed completely. I gave up my successful – though very stressful—job as an attorney, started to learn Greek and managed to secure a contract to write a Hungarian guidebook about Greece. The stress disappeared soon after we settled, and I began to blossom in this new way of life.
The sun, the sea, the kind-heartedness of our neighbours, the sociability and warmth of our Greek friends taught me something new: the kefi. I didn’t know what the word meant at that time, but it slowly became my lifestyle. It is impossible to properly translate this expression: it’s the spirit of joy, the love of life, enthusiasm, passion, and good feeling regardless of the circumstances. It is a word for experiencing, or more accurately, truly living happiness or any other positive feeling. It is not a mere emotion that you can develop; rather, you have to find it and it can only be found by exploring the path of life.
Finding your kefi means that you stop, relax, and appreciate the small moments. You enjoy the food you eat; you stop on the street to stare at a blossoming cherry tree or a butterfly, fluttering in the air. If you have truly found your kefi, no matter how cliché, you might even start to sing in the rain and jump in puddles with a smile on your face. You let go of the things that you are not able to change, you don’t dwell on the past or worry about the future, but you live in the present and fully enjoy it. Kefi is how you can truly live vicariously, full of passion and joyous abandon.
We unfortunately had to leave Greece and then lived in four different countries—yes, childhood dreams do come true; we just don’t always realise it—but this passion for life (and for Greece) stayed with me. Life can be challenging, and it is easy to lose sight of the kefi but I worked hard to find it again and again: I became a yoga teacher, a mindfulness instructor, a psychotherapeutic counsellor, spent quality time with my family, established my own dance group, travelled extensively, visited my beloved Greece as much as I could, and passed my love for it on to my family too.
