Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is a framework of 12 stages that applies to everyone’s personal life, as well as every story ever told. At the Institute for Human Potential, we use it as a guide and a reflection tool for each step of our journey. It isn’t a single journey, but each trip into the mountains, each new challenge faced and overcome and each learning opportunity are all their individual Hero’s Journeys, as well as part of our bigger picture journey. Carl Jung has a modified version of the Hero’s Journey which he uses to understand the internal journey. For us, it is often a mix of the two, while we might physically travel to a new place as we ride to a new camp, we also mentally travel to a new place as our comfort zones are expanded and we become more conscious and aware.
Stage 1 – The Ordinary World
In the Hero’s Journey, the Ordinary World represents the status quo or the comfort zone. Defining the Ordinary World helps us to reflect on our own life and gives us an opportunity to think about what our life was like before this adventure.
It’s important to define what our Ordinary World looks like at the outset of our Hero’s Journey, before our view how we were becomes distorted by our growth. What unproductive attitudes, habits and ways of thinking have become part of our daily life? This is one question we can ask. Others include: What is your relationship with the natural environment like on a daily basis? How conscious and aware are you of yourself?
Stage 2 – The Call to Adventure
The Call to Adventure is a challenge or disruption that made us want to embark on a adventure. Perhaps it was a desire for change, a major life event or someone offering an opportunity. Now is also the time to reflect on what the goal for the opportunity is, as well as the primary challenge to overcome. Examples of this could be testing limits, reconnecting with nature or gaining greater clarity on our purpose.
Stage 3 – Refusal of the Call
It is normal to hesitate at the beginning of the journey, as we suddenly become aware of challenges, fears and insecurities, as well as the safety of the Ordinary World (even if we want to change, there is always security in the known). This can make us refuse the changes the Call to Adventure requires, and how long we refuse the call for depends on a lot of factors. As we think about the journey ahead, or take our first tentative steps on it, we start to experience or perceive costs, risks, challenges and fears. This is the start of stepping out of our comfort zones. Now is the time to keep pushing forward and overcoming those challenges.
Stage 4 – Meet the Mentor
As the journey progresses, we meet mentors who help us throughout our journey. Through them, we gain wisdom, skills and advice which were essential to complete our quest and personal transformation. This is the time to reflect on what tangible skills and new perspectives we have learned from our mentors. Our mentors can be human, animal or nature itself.
Mentors can also be an internal guiding force or moral compass that helps us navigate through our journey. This inner guide is often dulled by the demands and distractions of daily life. That’s why a wilderness environment is the ideal opportunity to reconnect with our true selves – meaning, values, priorities and identity. As we continue our adventure, it is time to reflect on how we can make the most of this experience to gain a renewed sense of self.
Stage 5 – Crossing the Threshold
While we physically crossed the threshold by embarking on our Call to Adventure, it is sometimes harder to mentally cross the threshold, to fully commit to our growth and purpose, instead of being held back by challenges. Set backs such as avoidance, overwhelm, complaining and resentment might have stalled progress and stopped us from fully committing.
Stage 6 – Tests, Allies and Enemies
As our journey progresses, there will be challenges along the way. This is the time to reflect on how we have been tested – mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically – throughout the journey. It is a time to reflect on which situations, experiences or failures revealed parts of us that could benefit from further transformation. We reflect on what new life strategies have become “allies” during this adventure and what mindsets or automatic reactions have proved to be “enemies”. It is a time to assess which strategies and mindsets we want to make a permanent part of our toolkit, and which we want to work to remove.
Stage 7 – Approach to the Inner-Most Cave
Now that the big challenge is getting closer, this is a good time to refocus on our why. Why did we embark on this adventure? What were our initial goals and purpose? Have they changed or evolved? What steps can we take to rekindle our sense of purpose so we can create extraordinary results in the next part of our journey?
Stage 8 – The Trial
The Trial is what we have been training for. It’s a high-stakes, defining challenge where failure seems all too likely, like driving the skidder, staking a horse for the first time or riding along steep mountain slopes. Questions to ask at this stage are: What fear or challenge was there that you didn’t think you could overcome? Was there a moment when you were so tired, physically or emotionally, that you wanted to quit? Did you quit, physically or mentally? How did you overcome your version of The Trail? How did you grow and evolve from these situations? Was the biggest challenge really what you expected it to be when you began on this adventure?
Stage 9 – Reward
At this point in our journey, we have overcome many challenges, along with our own version of The Trial. This is our moment to reflect upon and celebrate our achievements. Questions to ask are: What personal accomplishments are most relevant to you? What rewards have you earned throughout your wilderness adventure? How did you benefit from your perseverance? What are your new-found insights? Do you have a greater connection to and appreciation for
nature and yourself ? How did your self-confidence evolve? Remember that rewards are both tangible and intangible, not just what we physically gained, but what we experienced and learned.
Stage 10 – The Road Back Home
On the road back home, we have to reaffirm our commitment to our journey as we leave what Jung calls the “Special World” and return to the Ordinary World. While this specific journey might be coming to a close, our human potential journey is far from over. This is the time to reflect on the highlights of the experience, as well as what we have learned and overcome throughout this cycle of the Hero’s Journey. This helps us to clarify our purpose, priorities and personal strengths for moving forward.
Stage 11 – The Resurrection
This is a final chance to renew our sense of purpose, to clarify our interests, goals and purpose and what we have learned from this journey before moving onto the next. Reading inspirational sources, setting goals with new skills to learn and understanding why we are taking this next step are all ways to experience a resurrection of purpose and passion.
Stage 12 – Impact and Empowerment
Upon reaching this final stage, we have trained hard, passed every test, overcome every challenge and developed our personal strength in a remarkable way. Now we are ready to share your progress with the rest of the world and ultimately act as a mentor for other heroes on their transformational journeys. We have the valuable opportunity of using the experiences and insights from our transformational journeys to transform the world and empower more people. It can start by mentoring others on their journeys – the little acts of adding value to people’s lives in our circles of influence already make a profound difference. Then, we start to expand our circle as we see more ways we can make a positive impact on a greater number of people and to the conservation of the environment.
Using the Hero’s Journey
Want to learn more about the Hero’s Journey and how to apply it in your own life? Take a look at the content in our Self Study program where you will see how we are always experiencing a Hero’s Journey, or sign up for Field Practice or Immersion Training:
