“Inspired Life in Greece” by Dina Argyropoulou

Dina Argyropoulou is one of those special persons who don’t compromise their lives. She is one of those people who have simply being tired of living their lives by the conformist rules of their society … Dina has followed her heart. She left America to return at Greece and live its original life. According to Dina there is no right or wrong way of life; there is only the way that becomes you …

Dina was born in Sacramento of California, where she had been living until she was eight years old. “I come from Nafplio and my parents’ passion for their homeland made them return to Greece in 1986. They had been working in America for many years,” Dina said to the HumanStories.

In 1997 she had graduated from the high school of Nafplio and she had decided to go back to California for her studies where she finally got her degree in graphic design from California State University in Sacramento, and lived there for 19 years. “My adjustment had been very difficult in America when I arrived there in ’97. I had never felt native there, but I had lived beautiful moments, and I hadn’t regret it at all that I had been living in America. I had missed Greece, and I always had been thinking all of the things that I could not enjoy there. The way of life in America had made me so much tired. It is too different, full of stress and a different rhythm of life. I could say that I was never adjustment. I was coming for summer in Greece every 3 to 4 years. Coming back to Greece always had been difficult”.

 

But in August of 2016, Dina decided to hear her inner voice that was calling her back to Greece. “I had come, here,  a summer without any aim to stay, and parallel I had passed some difficult situations. Then, a very strong inner ego told me that I had to come back. In the past, I had made the mistake not listening to my instinct and as a result I had made many mistakes. Instead, at that specific time I decided to hear my instinct even If it was not entirely judicious.

The first reactions of others to Dina’s decision were negative and made their appearance soon. “My people always want the best for me. The financial uncertainty and instability of Greece didn’t make my return ideal. But I was convinced to do that. For the first time I felt ready to defy my fears, to make my beliefs true, and I didn’t let anyone to affect me. My family supported me when they understood how determined I was and helped me to pick up all my stuff. I came permanent at Greece on November of 2016.

In that way, Dina returned to her homeland just with a few stuff, without any plans, but with a great need in her soul. The fear of the unknown and new will always exist and perhaps it is the only reason which leads us back to our will and beliefs … Dina had to deal with this fear to overcome. “There was always the fear and the worries of that change. I did not have specific plans. My only plan was to be comfortable into the liquidity of the situation and trust myself. We learn to fear the unknown so to choose the security and the certainty even if it’s not what we really want. I was following that secure path for many years and I was not happy with that. I felt that the time had come to try the opposite way; to risk and follow something uncertain. At first I had to practice my patience every day by creating my own plan into the uncertainty. One of my first movements had been to contact with the TedxAthens team as I had been a member of Sacramento Tedx design team for 2 years. The team here accepted me immediately, and through the acquaintances I made, the business opportunities arrived. I knew that I would find the way to get through it here in Greece as long as I stay calm and I don’t let my fear to beat me.

She has created a blog named “Inspired life in Greece” in aim to inspire more people, and make them find the power to live the life they really want…. Through her site Dina urges us to choose in our life the happiness than the sorrow because we have to learn the joy inside us. As many difficulties as we face the words have the power to make us happy or sad. “This entire journey through the uncertainty led me to create the blog “Inspired life in Greece”. It is a site that has the purpose to inspire us to find the courage to be united with our originality or the real part of ourselves that is hidden either because we fear either because it is imposed to us by our family and social environment ” Dina said, and added: “Originality means that I have allowed myself to understand the way of life which becomes me and I can express that with courage and without guilt.”.

“My goal is everybody to be convinced that originality leads to progress. If we want to live a more enjoyable life we have to feel that there is a progress whatever we do. However, it is necessary to get rid of obsolete concepts and traditional ways of life that have no longer functions in our everyday lives and move us away from our originality. We know they do not work. We see it in our relationships with the others, in the workplace or inside our homes. I share a variety of ways through which somebody can regain his originality, but also the power he needs to express the lifestyle he wants. Every week, through my email “Be A Warrior,” I send blog posts, visual and real stories of people who have managed to overcome their fears and live feeling satisfied. And all inspired by Greece. It’s not necessary for someone to make such a big change as I have done, but on the site there is information to make small steps and take life in your own hands. We need effort and will to take the responsibility for our projects, but we can do it with the appropriate supplies. My purpose is to convey these messages and provide the necessary equipment for an authentic life”.

But what is original life? “Original life for me is the freedom to create and evolve myself continuously in whatever I do. It is very important for me to give myself the time and the space somebody needs to be evolved mainly spiritually, and physically. I give a little battle every day to defend my originality and stand strong in front of the fears and influences I receive from my environment. There is no right and wrong way of life. There is only the way that suits to somebody as long as it does not hurt the others. Beyond that, the point is to find what you really want and also the courage to express that.

Greece has reciprocated Dina more than she has expected! If she hadn’t come back, she would not have created her project and she would not have met people she now loves. They support and evolve with her on her journey as fellows of her dreams …

Goals for the future are the evolution of the blog, a book and the joy of life… “My plans for the future are the evolution of the blog while I have started the research for a book of mine. It deals with the matter of how the Greek family operates, and why its structure with its dysfunctional traditional ways, its involuntary psychological constraints and its old perceptions does not work anymore. These manners don’t let children to find their originality having as a result to make unhappy people, full of anxiety and nervousness, improbable people to enjoy life. My book is addressed to everybody, and especially to young parents. I want them to understand all of those matters and not to carry their problems to their children. Instead, I advise them contribute by our try in the awakening of the collective consciousness for a new, more enjoyable world. Besides, we are here to enjoy life. Why not to allow that to ourselves. Ourselves make our life difficult by constructing dramatic situations from nowhere. The time has come for something new and this is the detachment from the past dysfunctions. It’s time to enjoy life”.

This is Dina. The girl who wants to enjoy life and the one who has made the world upside down to make it. She loves the way of life in Greece because that doesn’t bring stress like the American life does. Time flows in other ways and life is not that automated. Contacting with people is easier, more immediate, more human. However, as a citizen she is ready to follow the path of her own mission searching her personal Ithaca. “I have loved Athens very much and I live there most of the time. My experience about America is totally different in general. The energy of Greece becomes me absolutely. I do not intend to leave for the time being. But I am always open to follow fearless the path that will make me continually to evolve into my originality wherever it could be on the globe!”.

Until then follow her at https://www.facebook.com/inspiredlifeingreece/ and find the originality of your lives… www.inspiredlifeingreece.com