🔑 Key Takeaways
- The hero's journey is a framework for unlocking inner power and bravery to answer life's call to adventure
- The Hero's Journey is a timeless narrative pattern found in stories and life, guiding us through challenges, growth, and ultimate transformation.
- The hero's journey stages offer insights into personal growth and transformation, with the ordinary world stage reminding us to explore our potential and the call to adventure prompting us to embrace new challenges
- Recognize the signs of adventure in your life, such as recurring thoughts, dreams, symbols, or challenges, and be willing to take the first step towards embracing the unknown.
- Life's calls to adventure, whether big or small, can lead to personal growth and happiness. Be open to new experiences and trust yourself to handle them.
- Embrace life's challenges as opportunities for growth and self-discovery using Joseph Campbell's hero's journey framework.
- Committing to a call to adventure and crossing the threshold into the unknown is a bold, courageous act that marks the beginning of transformation and growth.
- Embarking on a journey involves taking the first step and committing, encountering challenges, finding allies, and continuing the quest. The midpoint marks a shift from the ordinary to the extraordinary, filled with growth opportunities.
- The midpoint of a journey is a challenging stage, but progress is being made and growth ultimately leads to success.
- Challenges help us discover our potential and change as individuals, making us stronger and more capable.
- Embrace challenges as opportunities for growth and self-discovery, recognizing the potential to make a positive impact on yourself and the world.
📝 Podcast Summary
Discover your true self and calling using the hero's journey
You have the potential to be the hero of your own life, and there are frameworks and tools, like the hero's journey, that can help you discover your true self and calling. Mel Robbins, your friendly podcast host, is an expert in this area, having researched and developed courses for some of the world's most inspiring brands. The hero's journey is a story archetype that outlines the steps a hero takes to discover their true self. Whether you're a fan of Disney movies, superhero stories, or classic novels, you've likely encountered this framework before. By understanding and applying the hero's journey to your personal and professional life, you can unlock your inner power and bravery and answer the call to a new adventure. Check out Mel's free training, "Make It Happen," at Mel Robbins dot com slash make it happen, to learn more about using physics principles to take action and start your hero's journey today.
Understanding the Hero's Journey in Stories and Life
The hero's journey is a universal narrative pattern found in myths, stories, and movies that follows a hero as they embark on an adventure, face challenges, undergo personal growth, and ultimately return home with newfound wisdom or a valuable treasure. This framework, created by mythologist Joseph Campbell, explains why we love stories of heroes like Luke Skywalker, Nemo, and Frodo. It's a reminder that each of us is the hero of our own life, with a larger calling and the power to save ourselves and, in turn, the world around us. By recognizing the steps of the hero's journey, we can gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and embrace the challenges we face as part of our personal growth.
Understanding the Hero's Journey Stages
The hero's journey, as described by Joseph Campbell, is a metaphor for personal growth and transformation. The journey's stages, including the ordinary world, call to adventure, crossing the threshold, and midpoint, can provide insight into our past and serve as a roadmap for our future. In the ordinary world stage, we find our heroes living unremarkable lives, unaware of their true potential. This stage applies to us as well, reminding us that we have yet to discover our full selves and the vast world beyond our current experiences. The call to adventure disrupts our ordinary lives, leading us to new challenges and opportunities for growth. Reflecting on these stages can help us gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and our place in the world.
Listen for the signs of your call to adventure
The call to adventure in your life may not come with a clear message or sign from an external source. Instead, it's important to be open to the signs and nudges that your own life presents to you. These signs could be something you can't stop thinking about, a recurring dream or symbol, or an opportunity that keeps presenting itself. The call to adventure can also come in the form of a challenge or a difficult situation. It's essential to recognize these moments and be willing to take the first step towards embracing the unknown. Remember, the call to adventure is not a silver platter offering, but a chance to grow and discover new possibilities in your life.
Embracing life's opportunities for growth
Life presents us with opportunities for growth and adventure, whether through significant changes or small steps. These calls to adventure can be positive or negative, and they can come in various forms. Some may involve major life decisions, like moving back home to be closer to family during a crisis. Others may be smaller, like trying a new hobby or rekindling an old passion. Regardless of the size, these calls can have a profound impact on our lives, helping us tap into deeper parts of ourselves and bringing us greater happiness. However, it's important to remember that it's natural to feel hesitant or scared when faced with a call to adventure. We may feel pulled, but we may also feel pushed, and it's up to us to decide whether to embrace the opportunity or to refuse it. Ultimately, the key is to be open to the possibilities that life presents and to trust ourselves to handle whatever comes our way.
Calls to Adventure: Embracing Life's Challenges
Feeling stuck in life could be a sign of a call to adventure. The inner turmoil and reluctance to leave the comfort zone are common experiences, and they indicate that there's something more waiting for us. Using Joseph Campbell's hero's journey framework, we can label these moments of tension as calls to adventure. They could be in the form of heartbreaks, layoffs, jealousy, or even the approaching empty nest syndrome. Instead of fearing or resisting these changes, we can embrace them as opportunities for growth and self-discovery. By going through these journeys, we can uncover hidden strengths and become the heroes we never knew we could be. Looking back, we can see how past challenges have already brought out the hero inside us, and moving forward, we can continue to use this framework to navigate life's ups and downs.
Crossing the Threshold: Committing to the Call to Adventure
Recognizing a call to adventure in your life is important, but committing to it and crossing the threshold into the unknown is where the real transformation begins. This can be a physical move like Jodi's, or a mental or emotional commitment like submitting an application or expressing a boundary. Crossing the threshold is a bold and courageous act that declares your intent to pursue something new and unfamiliar. It's a turning point in the hero's journey, and once you do it, there's no turning back. It's easy to get stuck in the ordinary world, feeling pulled or pushed to make a change, but never actually taking action. However, the most difficult part may be committing to the call to adventure and crossing the threshold, as it requires courage and a willingness to face the unknown. This stage is where most people fail in their hero's journey, so it's essential to take the first step and make the commitment.
Answering the Call and Crossing the Threshold
Embarking on a journey requires taking the first step and committing to it. This idea is derived from Joseph Campbell's concept of the Hero's Journey. Just like Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, and Milan didn't become heroes by thinking about it, we too need to answer the call and cross the threshold to begin our own journey. The midpoint of the journey marks the end of the ordinary world and the beginning of the real work. Here, we encounter challenges, find allies, and continue our quest. Remember, the second half of the journey is just as important as the first, filled with more challenges and opportunities for growth. So, if you're feeling stuck or uncertain, take inspiration from your favorite heroes and take that first step towards your own adventure.
The midpoint of a journey: A time of testing and growth
The midpoint of a journey, whether it's a hero's journey in a story or in real life, can be a challenging and lengthy process. It's a time of testing your strength and resilience, with numerous battles and setbacks. But it's important to remember that progress is being made, even if it doesn't always feel that way. Don't give up or question yourself during this stage. Keep pushing forward, trusting that the journey is leading you somewhere. Personal stories, like my friend Jody's move or my husband's MBA pursuit, illustrate this concept. These experiences involve long periods of struggle and doubt, but ultimately lead to growth and success. So, whether you're facing a personal challenge or pursuing a dream, remember that the midpoint is a necessary part of the journey. Keep going, and trust that the reward will come.
Embrace the challenges for self-discovery and growth
Life's challenges, often referred to as the midpoint in a hero's journey, are essential for personal growth. These challenges require us to dig deeper within ourselves, keep going, and surprise ourselves with our resilience and ability. Every challenge we face, no matter how small it may seem in hindsight, helps us discover who we are and what we're capable of. As we face and overcome these challenges, we change, and when we return to familiar places or situations, we realize that we've outgrown them. The hero's journey is not about the finish line but about the continuous process of self-discovery and growth. Embrace the challenges in your life, for they hold the key to unlocking your full potential.
Recognize life's challenges as a call to adventure
Every person has the potential to be the hero of their own life. Even if our daily struggles don't seem as grand as fighting an empire or saving the world, they are still battles worth fighting. It's important to recognize the tension in our lives as a call to adventure, a sign that we need to step up and begin a new journey. And we don't have to face these challenges alone. We have allies and supporters who believe in us and our ability to create a better life. This not only benefits us as individuals, but also contributes to making the world a better place. Remember, this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and should not replace professional advice from qualified individuals. So, embrace the call to adventure and discover the hero within yourself.