The call to adventure is the point in a person’s life when they are given first notice that everything is going to change, whether they know it or not.
– Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey 1990
This timeless principle is the foundation of all human discovery, adaptation, and fulfillment. Its parable is found in both ancient and modern stories, and the moral will continue to live in our hearts forever. It’s the story of the hero’s journey, and it’s the life you live when you choose to embrace your true authentic self.
Our innate passions and curiosity always drive us toward our calling, but against our better judgment (or perhaps by wrongful guidance), we refrain from walking the path the universe has set out for us. As we grow older and learn to ignore it, at least in attempt, we begin to only catch our calling in glimpses. But it will always remain, for although we can bury the hope of our calling in the depths of our minds, it is impossible to deny that there is a better life out there for us to see, know, and experience.
If you’ve been predestined to:
- Wake up every day to work a job you don’t enjoy,
- for an amount of money that’s barely enough to get by,
- to serve a group of people who hardly appreciate you,
- to come home so drained that you don’t have the energy to do anything but loathe,
- so you plunge into your vices in order to numb the pain of your meaningless existence,
- and when it finally gets to the weekend you sacrifice much your time to simply recover,
- spending very little time with the people you love and doing the things you appreciate,
- and then start the monotonous cycle all over again on Monday.
Well, I’d have to conclude there is little hope in this life for you.
The lifestyle I just described is a bit extreme, but I know it’s true for many, because it was once true for me. The weight of this world had once brought me to my knees; it filled me with the pain, suffering, agony, and hopelessness of an empty spirit. Even for those of you who aren’t living out all 8 of those experiences regularly, if your life is subjected to just a few of them, I’d still beg to ask – why?
If we aren’t meant to live fully, then why live at all? Why would we settle for anything less than the most? For nobody truly wants to die, we just want to escape and exist in a world without pain. However, what we often don’t realize is that we are the ones who bring this pain upon ourselves by not living a life true to our calling.
So what’s the alternative?
The alternative is living a life with proper courage, rather than settling for a life of conformity. Why do we all try so hard to fit in when we all admire those who stand out? The problem is, everyone wants to be an insider when you are often better off as an outsider. Outside of the walls is where you can roam free. It’s where you may hope to find the “extra” in an extraordinary life!
But it takes courage to escape these walls, for what’s inside of these walls is all that you know. But you must not conform to it. When you are willing to conform to your circumstances, even when it’s not what you truly want, your courage ceases to exist. So I encourage you to be bold, to be daring, and to not conform to something you don’t believe in.
“There are two roads diverged in a yellow wood… I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost. This poem is very powerful to many, but Robert forgot about option three. (1) You can take the path everyone else does, (2) You can take the road less traveled, or even better, (3) You can go where there is no path and leave a trail for others to follow you.
Answer the call to adventure.
Wyatt Simkins