Take a look at the hero’s journey, and identify where you are in that journey.
I have a minor problem with this assignment because I think we take these journeys many times in our lives, sometime repeatedly looping through the sequence. We take several of them at a time. I have several areas of my life running in parallel and I am at a different point in each. My career is one, my personal relationship with my wife, my being a father, my fitness, and my battle with age.
In my career there are many cycles through this path with each one leading to another epic battle. Right now I am in “Meeting with the Mentor” – learning and growing. I am already planning my path through the end of this journey and planning how I can use it to embark on the next.
In my fitness I am in the “Ordeal” – fighting to make gains, and doing battle with my body.
With my children I am still in the “Ordeal” – working every day to protect and teach.
With my wife I am “Seizing the Sword”, reaping the benefits from years of marriage and enjoying life with the woman of my dreams.
In my battle with age I am in “Tests, Allies, and Enemies”. Clearly starting to seek allies and prepare for the road ahead.
This is an interesting concept, in that the alignment of these phases across the different aspects of our lives is what really tests us. When too many areas line up, we struggle to give the proper attention to any of them. This is another area of balance, one of managing the phases or our different life journeys. We must never sit in one phase too long, and we must start new journeys when the old ones have ended. Without those journeys, our life stagnates.
Take that first step heroes – and remember that it is the journey that makes you grow, not getting to the destination.