Skyros Blog
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Living Areté Beyond Skyros: How to Carry the Spark Home
When you stepped off the ferry from Skyros, you carried more than a tan. You carried a sensibility, a quiet shift. A sense of authenticity, play, connection.
The ancient Greeks had a word for that kind of living: Areté, excellence, virtue, the fullest expression of one’s potential. It’s not about perfection, but about showing up, again and again, across all the parts of life.
What if your Skyros holiday didn’t end on the island? What if you could continue to live with Areté, through your voice, your relationships, your creativity, your body, your meals?
Below is a roadmap, not a checklist, for how to ease into real life while keeping that Skyros spark alive, grounded in philosophy and research.
1. Areté & the Whole Self
In Greek thought, Areté isn’t segmented. It’s not “spiritual life” separate from “creative life” or “physical life.” It’s the flourishing of your whole being, mind, body, spirit, culture.
So when Skyros awakened parts of you, your urge to sing, to laugh, to speak more honestly, that was you connecting with Areté. The invitation is to keep connecting to it, in small ways, every day.
2. Arts & Creative Expression
Art, music, dance, these are not decorative extras. Participation in the arts is strongly correlated with improved mental health, social connection, and meaningful engagement.
In research reviews, dance and music participation showed measurable benefits for mood, cognition, and social bonding.
How to carry this forward:
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Keep a small sketchbook. Doodle at your desk or on your evening walk.
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Learn a song you loved at Skyros and sing it quietly at home.
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Join a local choir, dance class, or open mic, even online.
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Share art with someone else, not to show, just to share.
These micro-acts of creativity keep neural pathways alive, and remind your body and mind it’s possible to open again.
3. Community, Communication & Humour
One of the greatest gifts of Skyros is the sense of “we” without cliques, without pressure. That kind of belonging is rare.
Why it matters:
Belonging and open communication are protective factors for mental health and resilience. When you feel understood, you feel safer. (This ties back to Aristotle’s ideas of flourishing in a polis, living well in community.)
What you can carry home:
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Hold regular check-ins with a friend or group (even if virtual): a writing circle, walk & talk, or “What’s alive?” conversation. A “What’s alive?” conversation is a gentle check-in where we share whatever feels most present in the moment, thoughts, feelings, or small joys and listen with care.
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Cultivate humour. Share a joke, laugh at the absurd. Humour plants seeds of lightness.
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Practice small acts of honesty and curiosity, ask “how are you, really?”
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Try to find like minded people in your area, join local groups, it might mean stepping outside your comfort zone but you don’t have to commit, you can use it as an experiment to find the life you want.
4. Movement, Exercise, Dance, Singing
Your body remembers choruses, songs, movement patterns. You don’t have to aim for performance, just nourishment.
Research insight:
Dance and musical performance engage both body and brain, strengthening coordination, mood, social cognition and even reducing loneliness.
Actions to try:
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Move to music: put on one meaningful song daily and let your body respond.
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Gentle movement practices: yoga, Qi Gong, walking in rhythm.
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Daily vocal warm-up: one hum, one tone, a favorite phrase.
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Join a local or virtual dance class.
Movement + song = embodied memory. It’s often how Skyros feels deep in the marrow.
5. Food as Ritual & Nourishment
At Skyros, food is not just fuel. It’s connection, care, delight.
Greek philosophy sees virtue in moderation, balance, and the right proportions, sophrosyne, a sibling concept to Areté.
Bring it home by:
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Keeping your kitchen simple. You don’t need grand meals every day, just take care in what you choose.
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Honoring mealtimes: sit down, notice your food, taste fully.
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Cooking something from Skyros once a week, let the aroma connect you back.
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Sharing a meal with someone, not for utility, but for communion.
Food, spoken well, carries gratitude, sensorial memory, care.
6. Welcome the Struggle (Agon) as Companion
In classical Greek thought, excellence (Areté) is not divorced from conflict. The word agon refers to struggle, contest, challenge.
To live with Areté is to embrace friction: when old habits call you back, when pressure mounts, when you feel unseen in your daily life. That’s the contest. Each small choice to stay in integrity matters.
When you feel drained, return to small practices: one quiet breath, one sketch, one share.
7. Epilogue: Keeping the Skyros Flame Alive
Skyros wasn’t a bubble. It was a lived practice of Areté, in laughter, in silence, in music, in a meal, in conversation.
When you leave, you don’t leave Areté behind. You bring it home. It’s in how you bend to the world, not how the world bends to you.
So commit to one small thing this week: a drawing, a song, a shared laugh, a mindful meal. Let that become the whisper that guides you back to that Skyrosness inside
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