Eight Years in Kos: The Place That Healed Me

Earlier this week someone asked me a question I get asked a lot as a foreigner living here: “How long have you lived on Kos?”

It’s such a simple question, isn’t it? The kind you can answer in a sentence.

But when I replied, it stopped me in my tracks.

Because 2026 will mark my 8th year on Kos.

And when I really let that sink in, I realised something that still feels unbelievable: in all that time, my life has changed so completely that it’s hard to recognise the person who first arrived.

I moved to Kos in May 2018

I moved here in May 2018, and if I’m honest, I wasn’t just “moving abroad”.

I was escaping.

Escaping a life I didn’t want to live anymore.

Most people make changes in a way that feels more… socially acceptable. They change jobs. They go back to school. They take a break. They move house.

Not me.

I left the country.

And believe it or not, living on Kos is the longest time I’ve stayed in one place since I was a child.

Not just physically — but emotionally too.

It’s the longest time I’ve lived somewhere and felt, deep down, that I actually wanted to stay.

To me, that says everything.

Kos became home

I didn’t come here with a grand plan. I didn’t arrive with a neatly mapped-out “five-year vision”.

I arrived needing space. Needing air. Needing a chance to breathe again.

And somewhere along the way, Kos stopped being “the island I live on” and became my home.

The place where I’ve grown into myself.

The place where I’ve learned what contentment feels like.

The place where happiness isn’t something I chase — it’s something I live inside of, day by day.

The joke my husband makes (and why I laugh)

My husband jokes sometimes — “If we ever get divorced, you’ll leave Kos.”

Of course I laugh.

Firstly… I didn’t take 37 years to choose a husband just to divorce him. Let’s be honest — he had to tick a lot of boxes to earn the privilege of marrying me. (And yes, I’ll stand by that!)

But secondly — and this is the part I don’t always say out loud — deep in my heart, I genuinely don’t feel there’s any possibility I’ll ever leave Kos.

Or Greece.

This is my safe place.

There’s something about this land

I wish I could explain it properly.

I wish I could give you a clear answer when people ask, “What is it about living in Greece?”

But I can’t.

And what’s interesting is that so many other foreigners I speak to who live here say the same thing.

There’s just… something.

Kos is special.

Kos is healing.

Kos has something the UK certainly didn’t have for me.

That doesn’t mean life here is perfect — it isn’t.

We still have everyday life. Real life. The modern world. The admin. The stress. The “to-do list” that never ends.

You’ll find that anywhere.

But even on the messy days, even when things feel hard, I never wake up without feeling gratitude for my life here.

Eight years later…

Eight years later, I’m still here.

Still choosing Kos.

Still feeling, in my bones, that this is where I’m meant to be.

And if you’re reading this because you’ve ever felt stuck — or like you’re living a life that doesn’t fit you anymore — I’ll leave you with this:

Sometimes the bravest thing you can do isn’t to “push through”.

Sometimes it’s to choose a different life.

And sometimes… that different life is waiting for you on a little Greek island you didn’t even know would change everything.

Warm regards,

Gilly