Can you be born into a Hero’s Journey?


Shortest blog post ever, right?

I don’t believe you can be born into a Hero’s Journey. A Hero’s Journey requires you make a decision.  In some cases, a Hero’s Journey can start very young like activists Malala Yousafzai or Greta Thunberg.  In some cases, the Journey may start when you… just.. can’t… take it any more like the Stonewall Uprising instigators say they did.  Remember, though, many other Pakistani women were violated.  Hundreds of other Swedish schoolchildren heard that same talk about climate change effects.  Thousands of other gay women and men were arrested, harassed, or violated before that night.  But none of those others made the choice to change.

In fiction, characters often look like their Hero’s Journey is no choice at all, that their birth circumstances made the Journey inevitable:  Harry Potter, Leia and Luke, Simba the Lion King, et al.  Integral to all of these stories is a moment of choice, sometimes passed over when you read it, where the Hero decides to Step Across the Threshold.

Because the Journey requires a decision, that means anyone can complete a Hero’s Journey.  It’s not about your birth circumstances.  It’s about a choice you make: a choice to reach for a goal, a choice to change, a choice to go after what you desire.

Your choice may end up getting worldwide attention, but most likely it won’t.  However, one person changing herself does change the world, doesn’t it?





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