Discovery - I had been on An Heroic Journey

After my recovery I began to look at what had happened, what the benefits, if any had been of my experiences. I started to look at the chronological events, the patterns and path my life had taken and I came across The Hero's Journey. My personal version of it was M.E./CFS, and it would have helped me move faster through the upheavals and traumas if I had realised I was on this Journey at the beginning.

In this Journey, the protagonist is living a "normal" life, doing what every other person seems to be doing, eating, drinking, going out, just usual stuff. He or she doesn't question this, why would they? Everyone else is living like this, becoming, often, pretty stressed and unhappy. It's like being on a merry-go-round except it's not that merry. But it's also extremely scary to be different, to say 'stop, I want to get off,' so we continue. This is the first part of the Hero's Journey.

And then we are made to stop; in my case, illness but it could just as easily been a severe loss; financial or relational, physical problems, accidents or some equally, potentially life changing challenge. This is the challenge or call to adventure.

At first, we probably will try and solve the issue in the old ways. At this time, we know no other way of tackling the problem. If it's an illness, we take pills, have an operation(which indeed may be necessary). As a metaphor, I could say we are banging our heads on a wall and the advice we are given, to sort the headache, is to take aspirin. We are not told to stop banging our heads. We may even be told to remove the wall, anything rather than change our behaviour.

Painkillers can take many forms; drink, food (too much or too little), exercising, drugs, gambling, denial that there is a problem, anything that numbs us from feeling the pain. But if we continue like this, using the same old ways, the problems tend to increase and intensify. This is the refusal of the challenge.

Then, maybe, some shift happens. A friend says something, a book lands in our lap, we hear a talk about someone who has been through the same thing and recovered, a nudge that maybe we can do something DIFFERENT. We accept the challenge, we move and start to search beyond the current paradigm.

At this stage, we may notice it is as if we are being guided by something outside of ourselves. Co-incidences start to become more frequent, signposts and breadcrumbs lead us to what we need both to learn and to do. This is the stage of accepting the challenge, or simply taking responsibility for our lives, our issues. Of course, we may need help and lots of it, but this help will come once we know where we're going — towards transformation. People who have been this way before us, down this road that is less travelled, will often train to become helpers and guides along this way.

It's not an easy road to take, we are often sorely tested. We may meet our "dark night of the soul" though some believe this is not necessary. Maybe, forewarned is forearmed.

There comes a moment or moments of transformation. For me it was a gradual process, a dawning realisation that I was so much more than I had thought I was. I was not my thoughts, my body, my feelings. All these came and went and I was still very much still here. It culminated in an out-of-body experience when I understood that I was living in my body and was not anything physical. I was this something, this essence using this physical body.

There is then a return to a normal life that is far from normal. There is an underlying awareness that everything looks the same but isn't. That underneath it all is a bigger story, and, as Shakespeare observed, "All the men and women are merely players."

And looking around at the world today, apparently full of chaos and conflict and crises, is our planet, our home also going through her own Hero's Journey?

So what's it all about - from this perspective, who knows? For me, my experiences have led me to a place of peace and compassion. My life is infinitely more fulfilling and joyous. It has meaning and I am so happy to have been on this particular Hero's Journey.

Maybe every life is such a Journey, maybe we stand on the threshold of existence and say, we want that life, those parents, those challenges. I remember once, when going through a particularly tough time, asking myself or the Universe, "Did I really put my hand up for all this?" And a distinctly different voice replied, "Yes, but you've forgotten when."

If you would like to share your own version of the Hero's Journey, I am considering writing a book of the various and numerous challenges we experience, to act as a guide for those who are following. If this appeals, please contact me though this site - thank you.