“I believe we make everything more difficult for ourselves.”
Name: Michael Parry
Born: 1983
Place of birth: Johannesburg, South Africa
Do: Film Maker, Experience Creator. Founder of Lucky Life.
How does one live a Lucky Life?
To live a Lucky Life means to live a life made up of millions of moments doing what you love. And in between those moments, strive to understand the balance present in all of existence, so that you can also embrace the challenges of life, the down days and strife that enable you to grow within as we face that which scares us most.
What does Ibiza mean to you?
Ibiza means a dream come true for me and that dream continues to evolve as I now live it in the
present moment. It’s a place that teaches me who I am, tests me heavily with some of the toughest challenges yet rewards me with some of the sweetest gifts I have ever received. From a young raver reaching for the lasers to a maturing man reaching for balance, I, like Ibiza, am many things at the same time. What Ibiza has meant for me is learning to allow and embrace the many parts that make up the me. This is my dream come true, and the best part of all is that I feel like it’s only just begun.
Talk to us about your latest venture, Eat Sleep Rave Retreat.
In 2018 I had just finished directing a series of films for the Electric Gardens Festival which Fatboy Slim headlined. The lyrics of his track “Eat Sleep Rave Repeat” had played on the big screen behind him, so whilst shooting and editing the footage I saw this phrase over and over again. A few days later, I visited New Zealand and spent a few days camping solo on Waiheke Island to disconnect from life and help reconnect with my father on the second anniversary of his passing. I sat quietly on a small little beach, contemplating life and wondering about my place in the dance music scene where the ethos had for so long been to Eat Sleep Rave and REPEAT. I felt lost and disconnected from it all, wondering what if my recently chosen life of sobriety had any place left in this scene, when suddenly, an idea came to me (I will forever believe it was a gift from my father) and the words were downloaded in a meditative sense, saying Eat Sleep Rave RETREAT. In an instant, I got it, understood it completely, and ran back to my bags to grab a pen and paper and scribble down the idea and concept as fast as I could. When I returned to New Zealand a few days later, I bought the website domain, registered all the social medias and trademarked it, as I knew this would be a major part of my evolution and of the Lucky Life brand.
But what is it?
There are many options when it comes to wild clubbing tours offering you to get loose on your
first epic hedonistic journey to the party capital of the globe, where you get to dance and be free
in the world’s best clubs and parties. There are also many retreats for newfound yoga and meditation lovers to delve deeper into themselves during a week of being tucked away for quiet time and healthy eating in a beautiful villa on the north of the island. But until now, there has never been anything that offers you a healthy balance of both. Eat Sleep Rave Retreat is a transformational retreat that encourages you to feed your need to dance, to safely let go and rediscover what it really means to rave. Together we celebrate life through our love for music and dance, while also creating the space and providing the guidance to calm your mind, nourish your body and restore your soul. We do this through a selection of completely balanced, beautifully curated experiences showcasing the best of what Ibiza–one of the most magical and dynamic places in the world–has to offer YOU. As well as a fully curated retreat, we will also be sharing videos, interviews, guidance and recipes online to share the lessons we learn from our specialists along the way. See https://eatsleepraveretreat.com
Why do you think balance in life is so important?
We live in a world of opposites, male and female, black and white, yin and yang and one is not right, nor the other wrong, one is not better nor the other worse. I believe it is each of our own personal mission in life to continuously aim for a balanced state of mind, body and soul, in all areas of our life. And for each of us, the balance is somewhat unique. Like a child must learn to balance in order to walk, later in life, we must learn to balance our life in order to fly. And this is a never-ending mission of continuously communicating with ourselves as new things enter and old things leave our life and energy field. My greatest teacher for understanding balance has to be Dr. John Demartini. He was one of the first speakers I saw when I joined a life-changing entrepreneurship network in London many years ago. I had the honour of hosting Dr. Demartini as one of our guest speakers in South Africa, having lunch with him and attending his breakthrough experience wherein he helps you diffuse any illusions about the imbalance of your life that may be holding you back. I continually return to his teachings and guidance which empower me to empower myself. If we don’t aim to balance, we are aiming to be out of balance, by choice. By unconsciously bouncing between the extremes of life, I believe we make everything more difficult for ourselves, as our inner compass is constantly thrown off path.
What’s your burden of responsibility to the World?
I like to think of it as a Gift of responsibility to the World. My goal is to do with my life that which the greats I learn from continue to do for me. Through learning to live as the greatest version of myself, I aim to entertain, educate and inspire others to live life at their greatest potential. And to be less-deep, the more smiles I can bring to the world, the more concrete the smile will be fixed on the face of my corpse when the last dance is done.
You seem to have a thing about getting naked on film at the moment
I’m learning to not care so much about embarrassing myself and just have fun in the game of
life. So in my aim to share smiles and entertaining messages that also educate, if getting
naked on camera helps my message reach a few more screens and the smiles arrive on a few
more faces, then I’ve made the world a better place for that moment and that’s a worthwhile exchange. My first cheeky appearance was in response to a request from magazine editor Dan Prince for a feature in a new magazine he was working on. I was asked to introduce myself on camera and then stroll off naked into the distance whilst collecting litter on Salinas beach. Considering this is pretty much what many of my mornings consist of, I agreed, as it was only going to be seen on small phone screens through Instagram anyway. Well, that was until I arrived late to the magazine’s launch party at Atzaró, only to find the short video looping on the big screens all night long. Needless to say, I got a few cheeky looks that evening and don’t think I paid for any drinks!
How has your party life changed over the last 10 years?
I continue to host, film and attend parties across the island and the world. I continue to dance. I
continue to be backstage and in the booth. I continue to connect and network with amazing people. I continue to enjoy myself completely and celebrate life through my love for music and dance. The only differences are that I spend a hell of a lot less money, I don’t bother my friends who run the clubs for free drink tickets, I go home when I’m done [or if the music, crowd or vibe is crap] and I wake up happier, ready for a swim in the sea and another day of work while everyone else is still cracking on or sleeping off another hangover. I find myself spending less time in the big clubs and prefer more intimate parties, but last year I was still at every one of the Ibiza superclubs several times throughout the summer for a good night out; either solo, or with a big group visiting the island, which always makes those nights special.
Do you think anyone in the World really knows what the hell they are doing?
Mostly, nah, I’d say the vast majority are blagging it, guessing our way through, taking a swing at it and hoping for the best. But that’s what makes life interesting; who knows what’s right, what’s true, whats real? We all come at life from truly unique perspectives. No two lives or perspectives are the same; no two brains, bodies or chemical makeups are identical, so therefore, no two experiences of life, or understandings of reality are the same. So all we can do is the best we can with what we’ve got and with what we know, before it’s too late and the game is over when you suddenly realise you forgot to play ’cause you were too busy trying to get good enough at the game first. I say screw it, game-on, let’s play. It’s time to ease up, have some fun and make the most of this Lucky Life we’re living right here, right now, cause we’ll be dancing in the stars again before you know it anyway.
