The last couple of months I’ve been very active, predominantly with continuing projects. Some I’m doing because I get paid to, some just because I want to.
The key challenge, of course, when writing or creating something longer or more complicated than a media release, is finishing things.
Whether it’s a campaign, a book or even a fitness regime, there’s a certain trick we need to master, to manage the distractions, productive or otherwise, that compete to keep us from our goals.
So I thought this month it was time to put down a few words about what the name of my site – sansicarus – means to me.
Let’s break it apart: sans is a preposition meaning without. Icarus is a character from the Greek myth who meets a tragic end somewhere in the depths of the Mediterranean.
Without Icarus. Simple.
Icarus’ story is part of my favourite cycle of Greek myths – the symbols I’ve used in my site design are all taken from them – those set primarily on the island of Crete.
The story goes that Icarus is imprisoned with his uncle – the inventor and artist Daedalus – by King Minos, ostensibly because Daedelus had designed the famous labyrinth (Theseus, Ariadne, minotaur, etc) and Minos doesn’t want knowledge of its secrets becoming public.
Minos is basically a major d-ckhead.
Unable to leave Crete by land (it’s an island) or sea (Minos controlled the harbour) Daedelus designs two sets of giant wings, the feathers held together with wax, that he and Icarus can use to escape to freedom.
As they attach the wings to their backs, Daedalus warns his nephew not to get carried away with the whole flying thing.
“Focus on the task, nephew,” he says. “If you fly too close to the sun, the heat may melt the wax that holds your wings together and you’ll fall. And if you fly too close to the ocean, the wings may get wet, which could weigh you down and also send you into the dark waters.”
“Yeah yeah, sure uncle, I’ll be fine. Chop chop. Let’s go,” the youth says, itching to get up into the sky.
The story goes that not long after they are in the air and heading towards freedom, Icarus, overwhelmed with how amazeballs flying is, follows some birds up too close to the sun. Icarus’ wings fall apart. He falls into the sea and drowns.
Daedalus survives. He’s a little sad for a bit at losing his nephew, but he goes on to do many other awesome things, including eventually killing Minos.
Back when I settled on the name sansicarus I had been doing a lot of thinking about myself, part of a decade-long process to find balance in myself and avoid the crushing pits of depression.
For a while the solution was to not reach for great heights at all.
I was scared of being burned and rejected and being flung back into those dark places. I knew that trying to soar left me vulnerable.
It still does, it always will. But these days when I fly too high or too low I remember that I’ve always got my wings to pull me back when I need them.
So yeah, that’s some of what sansicarus is. A little bit serious, sure, but then so am I 😉
Thanks for reading. Hope you’re well.
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