The Call to Adventure
“No life, no matter how successful and exciting it might be, will make you happy if it is not really your life. And no life will make you miserable if it is genuinely your own.”
In the beginning of myths and stories, a wanderer comes to the village and offers the mystery of adventure. The adventure could be defeating a dragon, joining the crusades, or saving the lost princess. In some, the hero decides then and there to take the journey, but in most circumstances, there is hesitation to leave what is known and comfortable and go out into the unknown and chaos.
For some, this hesitation is due to family responsibility, career obligations, fear of the unknown, or the inability to believe their story is significant and could change the world. So, we shrink to fit our surroundings and the views of those around us and hesitate when we should jump.
The course of the story usually leads to a catastrophic event, where the very thing holding them back is taken from them—in the form of an accident, a supernatural event, or death. This forces the hero to leave, to find meaning, a new story. Or, this is what should happen.
Now, let us look at our lives, for we are heroes. We are living out this story as well. Every human on earth is the hero of their journey, but many refuse the call at one point or another. Many choose to step back, and when the world is pulled out from under them, they sit back and wonder, “Why me?”
Have you ever asked yourself why something happened to you? Unsure what to change, where to go from here, drifting aimlessly, allowing life to push you from task to task to responsibility, unsure how you got to this point?
Well, hero, have you decided to take up arms and follow your heart? It can be challenging for some to find the clues for their calling and to see the wanderer inviting us on our journey. But the invitation is always there.
That feeling inside that says things like:
“I wish…”
“If only I could…”
“I want to be [insert ideal] one day.”
That. That is the call; the feeling is yearning. It may not be something dragon-slaying worthy; it may be a smaller ideal.
Yearn
verb - to wish very strongly, especially for something that you cannot have or something that is very difficult to have
We have two choices when we yearn for more:
1 — To hesitate and hide from the chaos of the unknown journey, always wondering what is over those mountains, across the sea, but never venturing to see.
2— To take a leap of faith and see where our journey could take us. We need to struggle, learn new skills, see new aspects of ourselves and the world, and see how far our potential could take us.