All in Hero's Journey
All of these wonderful pieces of my background were found, rediscovered, and uncovered. In the end, I had completed my family tree. I could see all of the branches clearly: who was in it, where they originated from, and how we came to be here in the great state of Minnesota.
But, what did it really change? For me, it really changed absolutely nothing.
What makes the threshold different—a defining moment in the hero’s journey—is that once you cross the threshold, you cannot go back. To cross the threshold is to commit yourself completely, wholly, and without limitation.
Sun Tzu, a sixth century BCE Chinese general and the author of The Art of War, said, “When he has penetrated into hostile territory, but to no great distance, it is facile ground.” Ninth century AD Chinese poet Tu Mu added, “When your army has crossed the border, you should burn your boats and bridges, in order to make it clear to everybody that you have no hankering after home.”
As long as you give yourself an “out,” you will not give everything you have.
Out of the depths of our own doubts, fears, and uncertainties, we desperately need a nudge. We need someone who can propel us forward in our journeys, who can provoke our ability to see possibilities we had not seen before, and who can ignite within us the fire to forge ahead.
For many of us, our mentors may be family members, friends, neighbors, principals, teachers, coworkers, supervisors, coaches, or teammates. Mentors also may be aspirational, fictional, or historical figures we never actually meet. Nonetheless, whoever they may be, mentors provide a critical ingredient for the hero’s journey.
Whether we are learning to ride a bike or starting a new job, the hero’s journey offers us a guide for the process we will go through: We commit to doing something new or different, we encounter people who help us along the way, we experience setbacks and successes, and in the end, we achieve our goal.
The hero’s journey is simply the human journey.
In the hero’s journey, we step outside of our comfort zone to challenge the status quo; we confront our foes, our fears, and our failures; and in the end, we create positive change and influence the world around us, as big or as small as it may be. Leadership is an iterative process. Artists are always creating and inspiring; leaders are always influencing and making the people around them better.
At the outset of the hero’s journey, the hero-to-be receives a call to adventure or an invitation to depart from the status quo.
The comfortable environment we live in may result from the subtle, and not-so-subtle, expectations of the people around us. It may be the decision that the problem we observed is “none of our business,” or it may be tuning in to the messages that support our viewpoint, while tuning out those that do not.
We live the repetitive rhythm of an average, everyday, mundane, normal, ordinary, and altogether routine world. In fact, our bodies and our minds crave the emotional and mental ease of living life on autopilot, and we often will go to great lengths to preserve this state.
