1. Where do you live? Your job?
I live at Cyprus. I am a Scientific Coordinator at Computation-based Science and Technology Research Center (CaSToRC) of The Cyprus Institute (CyI).
2. Please indicate Your age: below 35 years; 36-50; 51-67; over 67, and your gender
Below 35 years, male.
3. How your working time and work habits have changed?
I work the same amount (if not more) in comparison with how I worked before (from 08:00 – 21:00 or more depending on the day). The work habits have been affected as I do not have as much space as I have in my office at work and I am thus less productive (even if it is in a small degree) and I feel more stressed and I find myself working more intensely in later hours than usually.
4. What has changed in your daily habits? In leisure, socializing, personal and home care, nutrition?
Unfortunately, I find myself eating more than usual in many cases and the fact that I cannot walk or run like I used to, also affects my mood in the aspect of being more neutral emotionally and not so energetic. In socializing, I have cut a bit the contact with some people and I am more concentrated in my work and in acquiring new skills that would benefit my professional and personal life. I still take care of my home as I used to and have managed to organise things as I was planning for some time now.
5. Did you take advantage of this period to do something that you promised yourself, but you didn't have time to do?
Yes I took advantage of this period to start learning coding, using more my virtual reality gear as well as taking more care of my small garden and take more hobbies, such as pottery even if I don’t have advanced equipment but simply a wheel.
6. In this isolation with whom do you feel most in tune?
If you mean someone close to me, I have to say I felt in tune fully with myself rather than anyone else. Even though I am extremely social, this period made me appreciate myself a bit more.
7. Where would you like to be now?
I would like to be on a tour in Europe but combining it with work.
8. What do you miss most?
The freedom to go out for a hike, a walk or just go to a cafeteria by myself or with friends.
9. Did you discover the importance of something that you didn't give any before?
Yes, I have to say I discovered that I should not be a people’s pleaser and how important living the life and chasing my dreams is. It is something before that I was thinking but never gave weight like this. I also discovered my passion for leadership and to be able to have an impact on people and society.
10. Do you think there is something that you have rediscovered and that you don’t want to lose after this period?
I rediscovered my faith in humanity. It wasn’t lost before but it became stronger, I felt a lot of amazing feelings seeing how many people were fighting together for a common cause, even if there were a lot of people being negative and toxic. I had tears of joy many times and this is something I want to grasp on for the rest of my life.
11. What will change next? What would you like to bring with you when this experience will be over? What would you like not to forget?
I believe that there will not be a huge change, but fundamental micro-changes that will evolve into more substantial changes. For example, the digitisation of a lot of aspects, which would lead to a better response in such a crisis as well as start a new era that we will have many more services and products at our fingertips as well as the adoption of work-at-home practices. But I also believe that there will be a turn to nature and ecology, as we will be more appreciative of it, at least for a big part of the population. I would like to never forget how frail life is and how easily we can lose things that we consider as constant and given in our lives.
12. How do you perceive change in others? What are the questions you have asked yourself about this situation and that you have never thought about before?
I believe that each and every one of us has inside us a good and a bad side. Some extreme situations though (like the present situation) take out the side that is more dominant even if it is not shown in normal situations and we can be perceived as neutral. So for me, there is not a clear definition of change in others, rather a veil lifted of their true character.
I have asked myself several times, what is our purpose of existence and what are we meant to achieve and I realised that each and every one of us sets her/his own goals and there is no definite or a correct answer to this question. Whatever goals each and every one has are our own goals and no one can judge their “correctness”. I also realised no dream is too small or too big but rather a measure of what we want to be. And I realised that I want to be a force of impact or at least try to reach the stars even if it destroys me. I will at least know it was what I wanted.
Comments