I was first introduced to “The Hero’s Journey”1 whilst on a spiritual retreat in Indonesia. The concept resonated deeply with me and I couldn’t help but feel that I had just completed my very own real-life tale of this narrative structure. That retreat was my last stop on my journey back to England after a decade of travelling.
My “call to adventure”2 started at a young age on a humanitarian trip to Ethiopia. Joseph Campbell once stated, “New knowledge will challenge the old ways of the hero”.3 And that it certainly did. I returned home from my trip with permanently altered brain chemistry. I was filled with a deep gratitude for the life and opportunities that I had been given, yet I found myself asking questions about the world. Questions that I knew I would never find the answers to in the safety of my sleepy village. My imagination commandeered my dreams and filled me with romantic fantasies of faraway places. I had no real plan, just an insatiable hunger for new experiences. I set off from my motherland on a solo adventure with no idea if, or when, I would return.
As I ventured further and further away from the country I called “home” it became clear to me that my idea of home was indeed much more of a feeling than a physical place. As Jonny Pitts so wonderfully said ‘Home is not a place […] Home is a mood. It’s an atmosphere, it’s the community, it’s the people, and the things […] that are important to you”.4 In my backpack I carried a few memories of ‘home’. Small trinkets and tattered photographs. The faces of the people I love the most in this world were pinned up to every place I rested my head with the same dry, cracked blue tack that had once fixed them to the walls of my childhood bedroom. I missed my family dearly but I knew it was not time to return to them as my journey did not feel complete. Through meditation I was able to cultivate that same feeling of comfort that the little farm in Devon brought me. “Home” to me became a warm glow of inner peace that I carried around within myself. My own personal solace – built on a foundation of freedom and independence.
Every new country I entered brought about a strange feeling of belonging nowhere yet simultaneously belonging everywhere. Each new “mentor and ally”5 I encountered taught me that underneath all the diverse backgrounds, religions, languages, genders, traditions, and beliefs, we as human beings are all fundamentally the same. We all share the same desire – to live a life full of love and connection. If you look back at the very first species of Neanderthals, you can see the sense of community that has been depicted in their ancient cave paintings and the love in what is seemingly artwork created by them too.6 This understanding brought me closer to a collective sense of belonging in the world and has certainly helped me to build meaningful relationships with people from all different walks of life.
As I “crossed the threshold”7 to countries thousands of miles away I was able to feed my curious, inquisitive soul. I was rewarded with wonderful opportunities and navigated my twenties in a blissful state of newfound courage. The challenges, tests and ordeals that I encountered on my travels taught me many lessons and from these I have now returned with my own “Elixir”8. A positive mind, a wealth of life experience and a never-ending collection of stories. The key part of the Hero’s Journey is that it is a continuous cycle. As the final act ends you have the opportunity to reflect on your triumphs and lessons. The knowledge you have gained becomes the reward and you use that “elixir” to your advantage as you prepare to start over on a new act. I now find myself at the start of my “Act One” at university. The call to adventure is once again at my door but this time it has presented itself in a different way.
From the moment I arrived in Brighton I have had a strange sense of Deja vu lingering over me. The mentors, the allies, and the colourful characters I have met so far remind me of so many others from previous journeys. I applied for university as a way to honour the little girl inside me – the one that has always dreamt of being a writer and having her voice heard. The little girl who is now a woman, still wishing to make a positive impact in her lifetime – with dreams of a better future and a world full of love and acceptance for all who call this planet “home”. University has allowed me to finally feel like I’m writing for a purpose and that idea sets my soul on fire. When I write I feel like I am fully connected to my authentic self. The very essence of my being rises to the surface as my fingers glide over my keyboard. “With privilege (to tell our story) comes responsibility” which is why I look forward to expanding my knowledge through further education and learning what it truly means to be a responsible writer and a voice of change in our modern world.
I know this new journey will no doubt include its fair share of metaphorical deaths and rebirths as I uncover deeper depths of myself through my work. Yet with dedication and by building up my community I know I can reach a victorious “Act Three” once again. This fills me with such great excitement for my future. In conclusion, the narrative structure ‘The Hero’s Journey’ is of course the bones of captivating storytelling, yet to me, it is also the blueprint for personal growth and the secret recipe to an extraordinary life.
Bibliography
Campbell, Joseph. 2008. The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 3rd edn (Novato, Calif: New World Library)
Johny Pitts: ‘Home is Not a Place’, The Photographers Gallery (2023) <https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/johny-pitts-home-not-place>.
Mokhtari, Tara. 2019. The Bloomsbury Introduction to Creative Writing, Second (London: Bloomsbury Academic)
Vogler, Christopher. 2007. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd edn (Studio City, Calif: M. Wiese)
Wragg-Sykes, R. (2020) Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art. London: Bloomsbury