"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure despite overwhelming obstacles."
Christopher Reeve
In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell discovered there are several basic stages that almost every hero-quest goes through (no matter what culture the myth is a part of). He calls this common structure ‘the mono-myth’ – but it’s also often referred to as ‘The Hero's Journey’.
The Hero's Journey is a great structure to work with, to analyse your own story. Each of us have our own version of the Hero’s journey. We may think that big, dramatic things must happen for our personal stories to be considered heroic. However, each of us in our own way have faced challenging situations and experienced the dark hour of the soul at some level.
Mine was after having a miscarriage at the age of 30 and falling into deep depression. I drank daily to medicate the pain. After a few years, I found myself in deep trouble unable to find my way out.
Of course, my life is very different now – but I believe my voyage from the depths of hopelessness and the way I transformed my life is my Hero’s journey.
In order to live soulfully, we each need to claim our Hero’s journey – and mine the gifts that come from overcoming deep adversity.
What does your Hero’s journey look like?
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