She quit her job in Athens and moved (for the first time) to a village in Mani – Sophia describes
For the last nine years, Sofia has chosen to live permanently in a beautiful village of Mani and talks to iefimerida.gr about her decision to change her lifestyle.
During the years that Sofia Filea lived in Athens, her daily life was demanding. After graduating from Panteion University, he finds a job in sales and everything seems to have taken its course. Only she has stopped finding joy, the rhythms and the ones are constantly increasing and through the painting lessons she travels to other worlds. She sits in her house several nights painting and creating a little girl who flies… Later Sophia realizes that this little girl is the one who wants to escape from the city and make a fresh start in her dad’s village.
It happened in 2013 when she finally decided to quit her job and without a plan b to settle in western Mani, in her father’s place of origin, where she spent her summers. The first period he needed calm and soon he started to be more active in painting. Besides, from a young age he had the dream to enter the Fine Arts and to be professionally engaged in painting.
Nine years later, Sofia has found her artistic identity and at the same time she is active with her husband with outdoor activities in the wider area. She makes her schedule, walks by the sea, enjoys fruits and vegetables from the garden and lives the life she dreamed of when she was still in the Athens apartment, sending the message that the goals can be realized.
Life in Athens and the decision for the … big resignation
Wisdom where they work and how did you get the idea to move to the countryside?
I was an employee at a large telecommunications company, headquartered, and in a very good position. Although I had finished Panteion, I was never involved in my field, I went into sales and got stuck. But I had reached a point where I was not happy. At that time, I’m talking about 2013, decentralization was a bit fashionable and there were various programs to grow snails, others with spirulina and so I started doing market research. I was looking for ways to leave the city and go to live in my dad’s village, in Agios Dimitrios, in West Mani. Through the programs I could not make ends meet and I did not want to go to the village and work as an employee, I was looking for ways to make a living with something of my own ..
I had never lived in the village, like all families, we used to go to Easter and summer to spend our holidays. When I was growing up, my parents lived in the village since Easter and left in December. I really liked what I was doing, but due to my professional obligations in Athens, I could not follow.
At some point things at work were not the best, the crisis had started, the quality of life started to get very difficult and I got to a point where apart from my friends nothing else was holding in the city. I started to find it a bit masochistic to sit in Athens with all the difficulties that had already started to exist at all levels and I decided to leave without having a plan. My initial idea was to go to the village for two months to rest and then get a job on a cruise ship since I liked traveling. My dad worked as a sailor so I had a way of finding a job. I finally moved to the village for two months and did not want to leave.
Did you easily make the decision to leave Athens?
Very fast! I spent a week in a spiritual retreat where we had no contact with the outside world, we did not even have a mobile phone open and I enjoyed it because until then I was constantly online, I went everywhere with my laptop and my mobile phone did not stop ringing. At the end of the week when I was sitting with a group and talking I realized that I am not happy. I wanted to keep this mood from the trip in my daily life, but for more than three days I could not maintain it. The next few days I had a fight with my boss and two days after work. In fact, I explained to them in the company that I do not intend to go to a competitor because my purpose was to leave the city. And I left. Because with rent and without a job it is impossible to maintain yourself in the capital. So I organized everything for my move and on October 6, 2013 I moved to the village. Taking a small account I was very lucky in my professional life, but it was time to change the page.
From Athens to the village in Mani, the great transition
How did the first period in the province go? Did you have any difficulties? Did the thought ever cross your mind to give up this dream and go back to the city?
I remember the first four months locked in the house and I was happy. I finally needed this peace so much. At first, I did not feel that I wanted to socialize, I did not care that it was Sunday, that the time had changed and that winter was coming. In Athens, when the time changed, from summer to winter, I was melancholy.
There was not a moment that I regretted my decision. Now when I go up to Athens I can not stay more than 2-3 days. When I lived in Athens I had adapted to the data, but now that I have met the other side, I would not choose to live only in Athens. The rhythms are very fast, the people in stress and nerves, you can not find to park your car, a lot of traffic and in general the atmosphere is heavy. For me this circle is closed.
When I lived in Athens I started attending painting seminars, it was my dream to go to Fine Arts, but you know how it is in Greece when he wants to pursue artistic careers. Your parents tell you to study something else first. In the village I was involved in painting, I am self-taught, I made a page on social media, I made and did a Christmas bazaar and I started to make my first money. I had brought some of my works from Athens, where I painted in my free time, I made good luck. My specialty is decorative painting, I do not make paintings, I mainly paint on objects. My artistic identity is to make three-dimensional fairy tales in wooden boxes. It was an idea that came to me along the way.
village life and new professional new career
Where did the 3D boxes come from?
My philosophy is “paint it and it will be done”. Before leaving Athens I had attended classes in a painting workshop and in the evenings I sat and painted. I found a little girl flying with an umbrella and I made it. So I was led to believe that it can fly in other ways. I started experimenting and this little girl paved the way for me. As I say it was prophetic. I wanted it, I painted it and it was done. Because this little girl is with an umbrella over the city and I interpreted it that she wants to leave, to escape. Definitely significant because three months later he resigned from my job. I had obtained wooden boxes from my carpenter and I had got them to do something. One day when I was empty I thought of making something new and I started again with this girl who is on a ladder and looks at the clouds. The Little Prince followed, Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland and continued to perform with the little girl. This is how my ID was made and it is not something you find in the Greek market.
So from that first bazaar did you start making a living?
Slowly I started to participate in such a bazaar, in exhibitions, I even went out with a bench on the street. I was not earning that much money, but I was happy and above all confident in what I was doing. My expenses were very high in the village because life in the countryside is completely different from the big cities. Everything is simpler.
After all, what is life like in the village?
Nine years later, how would you describe life in the village?
Life in the village is perfect! When you have learned to work hard wherever you go the same will happen. I am a multitask person and my husband and I have our own business with outdoor activities. My day is shared between the company and the painting that I have now acquired my own data, I have my regular clients and so my life flows very nicely. I consider it a great blessing that you can not configure your program.
In the countryside you have a better quality of life, you can do better command and make a reality more autonomous. In the village you will plant your vegetables, you will put chickens, you will eat from the trees. The only sure thing is that in the periphery you will not be hungry. In the first year you will definitely have a hard time with all this, not all farmers are born, but next year you will do better.
On the other hand I enjoy my hiking, I can walk five kilometers, in a natural landscape, by the sea or on the mountain, something that is not possible in Athens. Life here is better and simpler. We need contact with nature, we must connect with nature. I see foreign tourists coming with us for a walk and when we cut them figs from the trees they ask how we eat it which is not certified. It makes a big impression on them.
Do you know people who want to leave the city and do not dare? What is your advice?
Of course I know. Many want to leave, but it is not always easy when you have a family or a decent salary. Everything is a matter of priorities. However, the province gives you the opportunity to invest and do your own thing. In addition, there is the possibility to find a job and try if you want and if you can stay. When your priority is clear that you want a better quality of life the province can offer and it is worth a try.
The unknown Mani, mountain and sea activities, suggestions
What are your suggestions for those who want to explore western Mani?
There are many options and always the criterion is “what vacation do you want to do”. However, apart from the summer, western Mani is beautiful in other seasons, even in the winter when it is warmer here, Taygetos protects us from above. I would suggest to the visitors not only to stay down in the sea villages, but to appear and be very picturesque with old stone houses, to walk in alleys where there are no cars. In addition, there is a large network of trails with stone paths on the mountain. There is a very special route, the old royal road that used to connect Kardamili with Ancient Sparta and from there Leonidas and the kings walked.
You will find, among others, gorges, 16th century Byzantine monasteries, a cycling track that connects Stoupa with Agios Nikolaos, a climbing field and the last time you can try and paraglide. The positive thing is that this place uniquely combines the mountain with the sea, the distances are short and they can not enjoy everything. Do not forget to go to the village of Trachila, which is beautiful and the only route by the sea.