Story and the evolution of us

Years ago I took a writing course titled “The Hero’s Journey” based on the book by Joseph Campbell.  During the course I learned the recipe for storytelling and within that recipe I discovered something.  The Heroes Journey is actually everybody’s journey – the story of each and every one of us. The reluctant hero called to adventure, the nemesis, the challenges, the helpers – the story of us. 

We are writing our story as we live our lives. We are the hero of our own adventure, our character is on display every day. We face challenges and bring to the table our learned experiences – we tackle problems with the knowledge we have collected and that which we seek.  We amass a cast of characters as we journey, we rise to occasions and sometimes we fall. We celebrate victories, mourn losses and our character evolves. Every morning we wake up a little changed, another day added to the history of us. We take our lessons forward into the new day so we can wake tomorrow and do the same. We are writing our own story, we are on a journey, the hero’s journey. 

I have never been more aware of how other people’s stories intertwine with my own; action and reaction, cause and effect.  Sometimes it takes a disaster for people to reveal who they really are, not only to the world but occasionally to themselves. We never truly know how we will react in a crisis until the crisis occurs. 

My life has been a disaster lately, I’ve been in crisis, but people have shown up and  supported me without question, sometimes without acknowledgement.  Some people surprised me when they showed up, others surprised me when they didn’t.  This recent disaster has redefined a lot of things; who I am,  how I view the world.  It has inspired me to reorganize my priorities and change my perspective. It has inspired introspection.

Through my crisis I have been reminded of the value of friendship and family. I have found friends within my family and family among my friends. I’ve learned who my people are.  I’m learning how to let go; let go of pettiness, of grudges, of expectations.  I’m learning how to move on. I’m still a work in progress and I imagine (even hope) that I will always be; always building character, always changing.

There is no story without conflict, no learning without challenge and no change without discomfort.  The Hero’s Journey is a call to adventure – we accepted it with our first breath.  We can’t control how the adventure unfolds but we can bring our best selves forward as the story is revealed, our character can evolve as we live our lives. We are, after all, the main character in our story – the hero on a journey.