The Hero's Journey

This is the final post I will be making as The Leader's Response. As with my previous post Only Time Will Tell, it takes the long view and is somewhat philosophical.

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Your Life’s Story

Reflect back over your life and think about the times you really learned, developed and grew as a person. The points in your life that you can look back on and say something really shifted in me then.

If you are particularly motivated to explore this, draw a timeline of your life and plot your significant life moments. Add some comments at each point about:

• Why it was significant
• What changed in you
• What you learned

Now add the people who helped and influenced you at each juncture:

• Those that brought challenge
• Those that helped you through
• Those that helped pave the way for whatever came next

Difficult Things

I predict that most of your significant moments were also characterised by difficult things, and perhaps even some kind of trauma. Things like loss of a loved one, overcoming a fear, mastering a sport or creative talent, redundancy, relationship break-up, divorce, accidents and misfortune.

Most of your successes (let’s qualify that as the things you are proud of), were hard fought. They were probably a response to a change or demand, that either life chose for you, or that you chose yourself.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a work of comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell, in which the author discusses his theory about the structure of the journey of the archetypal hero, found in worlds of myth.?

The Hero with a Thousand Faces presents a single narrative for a particular type of story. The hero’s journey is the tale that involves a hero who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed.

You know the heroes and their journeys already. There are many, but some go by names like Star Wars, The Matrix, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Lord of the Rings.?

The Hero’s journey has 12 stages but we can reduce that to eight for our purposes here.

You may recognise the hero’s journey in your own life. It is a metaphor for how you learn, grow and develop.?

You leave what is known and safe, and take on a challenge. There is a point where it gets tough, but it’s too late, you can’t go back. Guides, mentors and coaches appear and help you through. You learn something deeper about yourself and become ‘bigger’, with more to offer.?

You have journeyed through the unknown and have mastered something new. This new knowledge is now available to others through you. What was unknown, becomes known. The journey starts again.

Questions that Might Help…

• Think about a journey you are currently on (perhaps as a result of Gabrielle)
• Referencing The Hero’s Journey diagram, identify where you are on the journey right now
• What, or who could help you progress on the journey?
• What might you need to face up to?
• What is the opportunity?
• What are you learning?
• How might that new learning help others?
• What are you noticing about the known, the unknown, and your development?
• Does recognising the circular nature of The Hero's Journey, help you feel a little more trusting towards difficult things?

Matt Lock Leadership

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