Greece is my medicine. Many other Greeks living abroad know what I mean when I say this – I need to visit the homeland of my ancestors regularly to reconnect with the culture, language, and spiritual traditions I have admired all my life.

Diaspora Greeks are part of a uniquely split identity between the Greek heritage we treasure and the Western environment our relatives willingly sought out. Yes, my ancestors fled Greece after World War II in pursuit of greater economic promises, but now that those promises have been fully explored, I crave a permanent return to Greece for my mental wellbeing.

To me, visiting Greece is a breath of fresh air I need in order to live well. Complaints about the struggling economy and the Greek Diaspora’s tendency to romanticize their homeland notwithstanding, I am of the firm opinion that life in Greece is socially and culturally better than continuing life in America.

When I worked in Greece for the summer as a seasonal service employee, I felt a permanent sense of relaxation and contentment despite working long hours and sleeping on my employer’s couch. I left America that summer after suffering from bouts of depression due to the competitive, suffocating culture in Los Angeles, and Greece brought me back to my happy self like an expertly brewed antidote.

In contrast, my life in LA – widely believed to be the “final Western goal” of many struggling native Greeks – brought me some successes, yes, but genuinely threatened to impair my wellbeing permanently. I paid $2,400 in rent, I struggled under the strain of the superficial LA culture and every job I applied to commanded the attention of at least 100 other applicants who were just as qualified as me. Case in point, the suicide rate in Greece is 5.1 per 100,000 people, according to World Population Review: https://shorturl.at/gf9zm. In the United States, it is 16.1.

I have often said to Greeks that I feel like I have seen both sides of the coin, and I want to choose Greece over America. I’ve also heard every possible counterargument: you can’t make as much money in Greece. The bureaucracy is terrible for non-natives. I’ll never be seen as fully Greek. Living in Greece full-time is much different than visiting for two weeks out of the year.

At every turn, I maintain my longing to return to Greece and put American life behind me. For me, Greece is not something to visit for two weeks and then bottle up, to be placed on a shelf until next summer. I would rather take my chances in the land of my ancestors than scrape and claw my way up a Western society that is too competitive, too materialistic and fundamentally misaligned with the traditionalism of my ancestors. I might make less money in Greece, but I attach a priceless sum to the superior culture, social life and spiritual life.

I am no longer depressed, and I attribute much of my turnaround to living immersed in Greek society for an extended period of time. I improved my Greek, lived happily with virtually zero expenses and shook off the negativity that swallowed me up in Los Angeles.

I also want to see Greece succeed with the help of its willing and able Diaspora. Many Greeks living abroad have the funds, resources and experience to help stimulate the economy. Greece’s greatest natural resource has always been its people.

I’ll always be a Diaspora Greek – my upbringing in America confirms as much. But I believe that if Greeks living abroad truly love Greece enough, and mean it when we say we want to come back, then we can help ourselves by helping Greece.

Chris Benis, 23, is a Greek-American from Seattle, WA and has roots in Kythira and Larissa, Greece. He is a recent graduate of Loyola Marymount University and currently attends the University of Southern California as