When I first started writing this post I gave it a different title.
'The end of a stressful summer'. Then I decided, although these last three months have truly tested my patience and my mental health, I won't let stress define the whole summer. I guess that's what my pre-wired brain remembers more vividly. The same brain that kept me from writing for a few months, as I was mentally exhausted.
✘ New job challenges
There was a lot to learn at my new job, whilst dealing with a number of personal issues (which I didn't let it affect the quality of my work), but I managed to go through everything and I'm doing really well now. I enjoy working at a much better environment than any of my previous jobs in Cyprus and I truly believe in the amazing contribution to science and research of the Centre I work for and the whole of Cyprus Institute. My passion is still focusing on promoting and offering training on mental health at the workplace, and that's what I ultimately want to solely focus on, but for now I'm really happy with what I do.
✘ Bureaucracy
The level of bureaucracy, and incompetence of public services, as well as pure mind-f**k as to the process and documentation they require for no reason in Cyprus are astonishingly high.
Let me give you an example.
My husband is a third-country national, which is the term used in Cyprus for non-Europeans. Now that we are married, he is legally allowed to work at any company in Cyprus, BUT every time he changes an employer he needs to RE-APPLY in order to inform Immigration that he changed jobs, and his employer's name to be updated on his residence card. WHY? Why doesn't state on his residence card only the fact that he is married to a Cyprus resident? Why does his employer have to be on this? They bear no responsibility or relevance. Why does he need a new residence card every time he changes employers??
Why does he have to pay 80 euros plus another 100 euro agency fees (because if you go on your own, who knows if they'll deal with your application any time soon), and gather ALL this unnecessary paperwork again and again and again (e.g. marriage licence, social insurance statements, bank statements, rental agreement statement, a signature from a mukhtar/ municipality certified employee to on the application form to confirm that we live harmoniously, although he has no idea who we are and where we live in the area etc and the one in our area is a grumpy old fart), and for both of us to waste even more time off work to go in person at Immigration with our IDs and passports, to submit the paperwork, and for his biometrics to be taken AGAIN (probably 3rd time in one year)?
We had to follow this process twice this year, which completely drained us. It's soul-destroying.
No holiday abroad
As a consequence of this utterly stupified, mind-numbing process, our mini-break to Thessaloniki we both really looked forward to had to be postponed, as, listen to this, it takes 3-4 MONTHS for Immigration to issue a new residence card, although they require for you to notify them within 30 days if you changed a job. And what they don't tell you is that, if you are unlucky not to be Cypriot or EU national in Cyprus, you need that card to travel.
Accidents, and more accidents
Just before our annual summer family holiday, my dad got 2nd and 3rd degree burns because of an accident at work (which worried us all to death, getting that phone call at 10pm and hearing my dad in pain was horrific), my sister hurt her foot again, and my mum's chalazion flared up because of dust in the air. Accidents are no fun.
Money worries
With everything going on,and all these transitional periods for myself and the hubby, money has been really tight in the last couple of months, which also took its toll on my mental health.
Very little time for friends
All these events, severely restricted the time I could utilise to catch up with friends and other loved ones I haven't seen in a while, which worsened my anxiety as I often feel guilty for not being a great friend.
But not all summer was bad.
Weekends at the beach and the pool
Although I didn't manage to go abroad, I had a great bank holiday weekend in Larnaca with boo, followed by many weekends at Protaras beaches and our local pool with friends and family.
Family holiday
I genuinely thought we wouldn't make it this year with everything else happening, but I'm so happy we did. Swimming, playing, laughing, eating out, precious time with family and family friends. Running by the beach, whilst others were fishing or swimming with friends, in the morning was one of my favourite highlights.Two days after we came back from Protaras, our family holiday continued with a lovely excursion to Pedoulas village, spending time with extended family and walking around, enjoying nature.
Running and yoga
The constant heatwaves in the last two months were insufferable at times, which made going running difficult, and I had to get up at 5am most of the days I went, but it was totally worth it. It helped me keep my mind clear and maintaing my sanity, as well as my yoga and journaling.
Kept learning
When I first started at my new job and whilst dealing with that life kept throwing at me and my loved ones, I came home and had no energy to do much. I kept learning French on DuoLingo though, and I slowly started a brilliant short course on Mental Health at the workplace on Futurelearn (I'm halfway through and I definitely recommend it, you can find more details here) and signed up to the MBA I won the scholarship for, starting in October. Also I loved my weekend long runs listening to psychology podcasts. My two favourites so far are Speaking of Psychology by the American Psychological Association (APA) and PsychCrunch by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
All in all, a pretty eventful summer, quite stressful at times but still full of cherished memories and experiences.
Eleni
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