27 Aug 2024
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By Marcus Pearce
Spending 12 days on an island that has no public transport, no crime, two police stations (both unmanned – for obvious reasons), one nursing home (with 10 people in it) and not one multi-national business precence (seriously) will do a lot to your philosophies about life. Here are seven of my take-home and applied steps from my time on the beautiful Greek Island of Ikaria.
Enjoy the following excerpt from my book, Your Exceptional Life. If you would like the full copy of the book and audiobook emailed to you, click here.
1. Cooking on low-to-medium heat
Since I first visited Ikaria, I haven’t cooked on high or with any other oil other than olive oil. It’s olive oil on low to medium heat at all times now.
Yes, it may mean cooking takes longer, but so what? Why have we become obsessed with meal prep to be complete in a flash? Because we’re so busy being busy – on what exactly? Rushing around like a headless chook with our priorities somewhat skewed to the urgent and not all that important if you ask me.
In Ikaria, eating food is a ceremony, and so is preparing to eat. Watching Athena and her sister Poppy, the “head chefs” at Thea’s Restaurant, ply their trade was awe-inspiring. Watching a master at work is a true privilege.
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2. Serving most of our meals “family style”
If you have a European background this is probably familiar to you. I have no doubt you have eaten this way before. In short, rather than each meal being “plated up” onto your plate before you eat, the entire meal is served on various platters and plates on the dining table and everyone simply eats what they want.
You might ask – “but what if my child only takes potatoes?” – and you have a point. You always have the right though to question their decision making. At the same time, the autonomy family style dining provides young children is fabulous. I have loved seeing my kids revel in choosing what THEY want, rather than what WE want them to eat.
They select different cuts of meat, varied amounts of vegetables (often more than we would choose), and overall I notice that we are conversing more at the table and simply celebrating our food more. The kids are improving their table manners with every meal (“may you please pass the salad Dad”) and meal time is taking longer which means quality family time is lasting longer.
3. Daily siesta
I have often resisted the desire to rest during the day. My “productivity” hat has labelled a daily nap as unproductive in the past. However if you already have cultivated this habit I have no doubt that you would argue quite the opposite. And you’d be right I believe. Some of the “busiest” and most productive people we know of (Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, JFK and many more) had a habit of napping.
When I can, I factor in an afternoon nap. It doesn’t always work, however, when it does, it always allows for a more productive afternoon.
4. Make it hard to know the time
I know what you’re thinking! Let me just tell you what I’ve done and how it’s impacted my thinking.
I’ve removed the time from my Macbook. Right now I have no idea what the time is. If I want to know I must pick up my phone. I haven’t worn a watch in yonks so that adjustment hasn’t been necessary. What I have noticed though is that many of my decisions about what to do at any particular time have been based on what time it is. “It’s too late to stay up and work” or “it’s too early to get up and do X” or “I won’t do XYZ because I don’t have time”.
In Ikaria, this doesn’t come into the equation. They are very “anti-time” or “pro present moment”. They aren’t thinking about the past or the present; instead, they are sensational at making the most of NOW.
Ikaria is a cornucopia of insights and epiphanies. It’s almost as if you go back in time to the way everything was when “life was better” yet also get a glimpse into the future of how life could be. And then, Ikaria reminds you to be truly grateful for the life you have NOW.
5. Any excuse to socialise
My 100 Not Out co-host Damian Kristof is a self-proclaimed golden retriever. He is a social animal and will find any way to be around people. He is very Ikarian in this regard. Most of our society on the other hand, do whatever they can to avoid human contact. These days, it has become socially acceptable to be “too busy” to socialise, which is sad (and mediocre).
No matter how much work is on the table, Ikarians socialise.
I’ve attended a daytime panigiri (a local festival honouring the name-day of the Saint the local church is named after). It started at about 1pm and many don’t return home until 4:30 the next morning! On an island of 7500, there were over 1000 in attendance. People of all ages were in attendance, and there was an incredible sense of connection, love and fun.
Most remarkably for me, the day was Wednesday. This was not a “public holiday”, however many people had taken the day off work and attended the panigiri. Most of the island’s 60-odd villages were ghost towns with so many people in attendance at the panigiri.
Ikarians do almost ANYTHING to socialise and connect with people. And they’re so happy. Personally, as someone who is quite social, I’m determined to have a “real human connection” with even more friends and like-minded people in my local area.
6. More time in the garden
For much of my life, I rented and was averse to spending much time in “someone else’s” garden. You can already see though how flawed this philosophy is.
If you saw Damian Kristof’s house, a fellow renter with an incredible amount of house pride, you would think it’s his own. And when you look at the thriving vegetable and herb garden he has going you would surely think it’s his forever home!
There’s no doubt that my standards around our garden have risen considering since first visiting Ikaria. Spending time around so many herbs, fruit and nut trees and vegetables has many therapeutic effects.
The simple act of picking strawberries at Jianni and Ioanna’s property in Ikaria was a profound experience. Simply said, gardening is meditative. The white noise of picking, digging, pruning and so on is just so relaxing.
7. Just Do It Tomorrow
The Ikarians abhor laziness. They are a hard-working island, with many of the older generation living through the ravages of war. Not to mention the undulating terrain which makes everything take longer (or happen more slowly). You will not find 50 metres of continuous flat land anywhere on the island (except for maybe a school).
At the same time, what I love about Ikarian culture is that they are not afraid to put something off to tomorrow. In our culture, we have a to-do list longer than our head to toe and get angry that we “didn’t get much done today”, and only after we’ve beat ourselves up and ingested a good dose of guilt do we resentfully add the majority of today’s action items to tomorrow! Crazy, right?!
In Ikaria, a farmer could be working at 6am or 10pm, it doesn’t matter what time it is. If the work needs to be done, it gets done. However, if someone has the choice of socialising with friends and family over a meal and some wine versus doing some work, in every instance I observed they chose socialising over work.
“Just do it tomorrow” is a mantra they live by without any guilt, without any fear of being “unproductive”. Their values are weighed highly in favour of connecting with others, knowing that if the sun does NOT come up tomorrow, they spent their final hours having fun with people they love. Not a bad way to live!
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