The Hero’s Journey Begins in the Ordinary
🤔 You don’t have to wait for your adventure to begin
When we think of heroes, we picture triumphant moments—battles won, dragons slain, insurmountable odds surmounted. But every adventure begins far from glory.
It starts in what Joseph Campbell called the Ordinary World. It’s Neo sitting bored in his cubicle, Harry sleeping in a cupboard, Matilda wasting brilliance on a neglectful family, or Craig getting fired on his day off.
There’s nothing special about these characters or their lives—at least, that’s what they believe until they’re pushed out of their comfort zones and into a challenge.
If you’re reading this, growth and transformation matter to you (or you want them to). But so often, we get stuck waiting for something to happen, waiting for a shift to find us or an opportunity to land in our laps.
Why wait to be shoved out of the ordinary? Why not leap before you’re pushed?
Heroes rarely recognize themselves as such at the start. They feel “normal,” unprepared, and often overwhelmed. And yet, this very sense of inadequacy, combined with the choice to step forward anyway, starts the transformation.
The truth is, we don’t become heroes because we feel ready. We become heroes because we decide to move forward despite the lack of motivation, the fear, the pain, or the mystery of what’s next.
In the fictional story, Harry Potter is a wizard long before he knows it, when he’s just a shy, awkward kid shunned by his own family.
In the American story, John Lewis didn’t see himself as heroic. He was just a man crossing a bridge for a cause that mattered. He (and the hundreds of other marchers) didn’t know those steps would change the course of history.
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the choice to act. Before you’re ready. Before it feels significant. Before you’re guaranteed success.
Heroes are “normal” people who follow the call to adventure, even if, at first, it’s just a whisper.
Side note:
If you’re in the thick of it right now, caught in a tough season of unexpected changes, chaos, and confusion… Congrats! You’ve already moved out of the Ordinary World and into the next phase of Campbell’s Hero’s Journey: the Call to Adventure. Your move!
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