Seven years ago, Peter Manouselis nearly burnt himself out making his fortune as investment banking analyst on Wall Street. He decided he needed to explore the other possibilities that life had to offer him.
The 36-year-old American Greek tried his hand as a screenwriter. He then decided to sell everything and return to Crete, the island from which his family originated and where his father still lives.
His life in Crete was about forging a connection to his roots and his own way in life. As part of his journey he joined the Greek army and immersed himself in the culture and language of his ancestors.
He has returned to the US and has recorded his thoughts and experiences in his book Perspective: A Greek American finding his way in Greece.
“The book is about relationships. My relationship with America, Greece, family, and women, and how I struggle to fix them and find my own way in life,” Mr Manouselis told Neos Kosmos in a question and answer session.
Where were you born and raised? Education?
I was born and raised in the US, in a small town in Ohio called North Canton. I graduated from Ohio State University with a finance specialization.
What did you do before going to Wall Street? What did you learn from your years as an investment banker on Wall Street?
After I graduated from Ohio State University, I moved to New York City and started work as an investment banking analyst at Bear Stearns. Like everyone who enters a career, I was very green at the start, but I was likely hired because I convinced people that I was willing to commit myself to the job 24/7 days of the week. This essentially led me to working a hundred hours a week, which is crazy, especially considering there are only 164 hours in a week.
Because of the demand of the job, many analysts leave after two years to either go to business school or work at a private equity focused company. With me, this career path felt odd, or at least wasn’t clear it was what I wanted. So, I stayed for two additional years.
However, I reached a point in my investment banking career where I was just curious what else could be out there for me. And at the end of the fourth year, I found myself rich, at least by my standards, burnt out, and in need of a change.
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What prompted you to move to Crete?
My intrigue in Crete was due to the fact that my roots were Cretan, as both my parents were born and raised there, and it provoked within me a need to explore my identity, as I felt incomplete having been born and raised in the US, but experiencing the Greek culture inside our household.
The opportunity for me to live there was amplified by the fact I was required to serve in the Greek Army after my father had registered me as a Greek citizen and they were looking for me.
Did returning to Greece meet with your expectations?
Most certainly, but it wasn’t without many doubts in the beginning. I was 31 years old, pursuing a career as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, driving as an Uber taxi driver to make money, and absolutely clueless on how I was ever going to make a living as a writer, at the time I decided to abruptly leave and move there.
I learned the language, served in the military, formed great friendships, embraced the culture, while at the same time I struggled to have an emotional connection with my father who lived there. The biggest adjustment for me was to realize that I wasn’t in America anymore and that I needed to have the awareness and patience to accept that the Greek way of life isn’t the same as the American way. The Greek way is largely pursued in a pause zipping a frappé (or a freddo).
What have you missed about the US?
Given that I was born and raised in the US. I will always be an American. But I will always be a Greek too. There are things about America that I love and hate, just as there are things about Greece. As much as I wanted to slow down and embrace the unknown, I missed the ambition of the American people.
I take a deep reflective view on why I decided to return to the US that I’ll leave it up to the reader to find out more of my view on America in the book.
What do you enjoy about Greece and what did you find strange being there?
I know this is a cliché, but the freshness of the food, along with the intoxicating landscape. The landscape of Greece holds a special place in my heart. There truly isn’t anything I’ve experienced more magical then a boat trip across the Aegean Sea when the sun breaks the horizon and the scattered islands take shape out ahead. And maybe the strange thing about Greece is how much the environment brings one to contemplate the beauty of life.
Afternoon naps were strange to me in the beginning too but turned out to be a thing of genius I eventually adopted myself.
What was your experience in the Greek military like?
I served for three months on the island of Crete. I write a lot about my experience in the Army in my book, and I have to say that it was one of the best things I could have ever done in my life up to this point. I know that it will remain as one of my best decisions, even when I was nervous about doing it at first. I made great friends. I accelerated my understanding of the language. I truly took on a new perspective after I had finished that remains invaluable today.
What do you feel you have learnt from your experience?
Well, of course, I developed a new perspective! In truth, my journey living in Greece for 14 months brought me to embrace my own way in life and to avoid following in the footsteps of what is expected of me. Nothing is wrong with a journey followed by many, only that I realized that the journey I decide should be of my own doing and not due to societal pressures because everyone else is doing it. In sum, I learned it’s ok to define my own way in life.
What are you doing now?
I’ve come full circle – working as an investment banker in New York City. Sometimes I drop into these ethereal states of mind where I feel like I’m living another life, but I’m only thirty-six years old. I had spent more than seven years away from the world of finance, acting, writing screenplays, books and poems to now return was my eureka moment because I get to approach my work with a fresh perspective and a mature state of mind, knowing that for my way in life I can both write and advise companies on mergers and acquisition transactions, and not feel that I’ve failed or given up on my passion for creative endeavours.
What advice do you give to a Greek of the diaspora who may want to follow your example?
I think for any diaspora (member) wanting to return to their roots is a great thing. I harboured a sense of nostalgia in wanting to return to the land and culture of my forebears. I had felt incomplete in some weird way by the fact of only having lived in the US, but very much imbued with the Greek culture. Your current life won’t go anywhere. Your existing pursuits won’t go unfulfilled. Stepping out of your comfort zone to connect with your roots will only make you a better person at the end of the day. That will keep you nimble in how you tackle new challenges that will come up in your life down the road.
♦ Perspective: A Greek American finding his way in Greece is a self-published book that available in paperback and as an e-book on Amazon, as well as on other digital distribution platforms like Apple Books, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. You can also hear Peter Mansouelis on a podcast on Spotify.
