Where have I been?

Hello, people.

I am currently writing this post from a Starbucks in the beautiful city of Thessaloniki. I’ve been there for 5 days already, and it’s been an interesting experience so far.

I haven’t forgotten about the “unemployment project” but I know I haven’t updated you in a while. A little before I left for vacation, my mental health declined rapidly. My anxiety got so bad that I couldn’t sleep well at nights, I felt constantly irritated, I couldn’t focus on the things I had to do and I felt incredibly lonely. Now I don’t know if that had something to do with me being unemployed, but it might have. There were days I felt like I had no purpose and that I was stuck with my life. Watching everyone else having fun, being productive and achieving things on social media didn’t really help me. That’s how I ended up neglecting my unemployment diaries for a while. There was no motivation, and sometimes I would barely eat or take care of myself. I know this might seem dramatic, but it’s nice to be honest about such things.

Then, it was time for my vacation. Two nights before I was supposed to travel, I got some horrid panic attacks. In the morning, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go through with my plans and go on a vacation. I was ready to cancel everything, but something kept me from it. So, I decided to travel hoping that I’d stop feeling so stuck, lonely (even though it’s a solo vacation!), and so very trapped in the very same repetitive routine. At the same time, I reached out to friends I hadn’t talked to for a while, and I also tried to communicate more efficiently with my partner. It was about time to stop feeling so lonely.

So, I’m going to tell you how things go. So far, I have no regrets and that’s a big one. I’ve solo traveled before but never for 12 days. There are still many days to go, but I believe I’ll be fine. I don’t think I’ll get bored or run out of things to do — mostly because I am in a such interesting and colorful city with things always going on around. I honestly love that I’m far from my house AND on my own. I plan things as much as I want to, but I also have the flexibility to choose to do or not do something depending on my mood. I also have the time to reflect. I have a lot of time to myself and that gives me the chance to think of my life and my relationship with the others and try to find out what I would like to do next, and who I would like to become.

I don’t feel alone here. For starters, I truly needed some time to myself but also in this city it’s difficult to be alone. The locals are really warm and communicative, and there are also many tourists around who travel solo or with their families. People talk, communicate, share their opinions and it’s a beautiful thing. You know I can see myself living in this city and enjoying it. I thought of buying some local newspapers to just check what’s going on in the job market, but I haven’t done this yet — I think I’ll end up doing it though.

Overall, I have a good time. I go to museums, I go shopping, I go to plays and bars and restaurants and I’ve been feeling a little better recently. Anxiety is of course not entirely gone, but I’d lie if I said that there’s no progress.

So, I’ll definitely revisit the diaries of unemployment, but I don’t know if it’s feasible right now and while I’m on vacation.

I still needed to update you on how I’ve been recently and I hope you all are doing well.

Related posts:

Trying to solve problems can be difficult. especially with no clue where to begin. When finding ways to solve others problems; you must first understand that particular person. This blog will give…

You could say the story of our collective future will be the story of how well, or how poorly, we manage carbon. Humanity evolved in the Holocene, a warm nest of atmospheric stability that over the…

Tired of boring Zoom calls and Slack chats? GroupRoom’s spatial video chat platform now allows you to create 3D worlds powered by Mozilla’s AFrame WebXR tools. Since our launch several months ago…