By Steve Christenson
Everyone loves a hero. In fact, the past few decades have seen the traditional hero archetype explode into popular culture with shows and movies like The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones, Iron Man, Batman, and The Lord of the Rings. This resurgence of heroes on the big screen says something about the messages we want to hear as a society, right? These are unstable times, and we all yearn to be saved by some heroic figure sweeping in to save the day. But what if we could be the hero of our own stories? What would that do for our well-being?
These questions were addressed back in the '50s and '60s by Joseph Campbell's research into the "monomyth" and the archetype of the hero's journey. Here's a quick summary of his work.
So, according to Campbell, we like to read, watch, and learn about heroes because their mythical quest stands in for the psychological journey that we take every day. At the same time, Campbell points out that we are usually unaware of this journey, so we often take steps in the wrong direction. We are the detoured hero, distracted by side quests that prevent us from achieving our ultimate self-development goals.
This is where the Adventure Mindset comes into play. Martin Frey, the Adventure Mindset creator, developed these ideas through a heroic journey of his own. He became the first man to summit the world's highest peaks and sail the seven oceans (check out his biography here—he's done some pretty incredible stuff). Those experiences convinced him to create the Adventure Mindset as a framework to graft positive psychology principles into your life. Coincidentally, it also provides an incredibly similar roadmap to Campbell's concept of the Hero's Journey.
At the center of the Adventure Mindset is the Action Map, which is basically the simplified version of the Hero's Journey that we can use to discover where we're at in our own quest for the good life. So let's take a look at how this roadmap works!
The Action Map
1. Recognizing a Life Cast Adrift: The first image that comes to my mind when I think of being “cast adrift” is that scene from Life of Pi when Pi finds himself alone on the ocean with only a tiger, some seagulls, and the fish to keep him company. Being cast adrift doesn’t have to be as literal as that, though, and it often isn’t in our own lives! At the beginning of The Hobbit, for example, Bilbo Baggins is just as lost as Pi, even though he's sitting in his fancy Hobbit Hole. To be cast adrift means to be purposeless in life—to lack a drive towards something greater than ourselves. That Bilbo lacks drive towards a better tomorrow is evidenced by this conversational clip with Gandalf at the beginning of The Hobbit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_cwRqXBR4Q
In the end, Pi, Bilbo, and all of us need to muster enough momentum to overcome our apathy. That momentum can come from a tricky wizard, a handful of dwarves, or just a desire for self-improvement. However, when it comes, it will lead us to the next point in the journey.
2. Safe Harbor: The Safe Harbor is the point at which we rest from that initial push, then make plans and goals to accomplish our quest. Bilbo's safe harbor was the city of Rivendell. Our safe harbors might be more abstract than a physical location. For instance, they might be a person we confide in or a journal where we record our ideas. Either way, the Safe Harbor points us towards the next stop on our journey.
3. Base Camp: In mountaineering, a base camp is a point along the hike where you stop, rest up, and gain your bearings to push to the top of the mountain. Our friend Bilbo had a few base camp experiences in his journey (Beorn's Cabin, Lake-town, and the Lonely Mountain before the battle). Each time he gained some needed rest, reassessed his goals and values, and looked back on how far he had come.
4. Summit: The ultimate value in preparation, though, is to help us reach the summit—achieving our goal and returning home with the reward. Sometimes that reward is a treasure (after all, Bilbo did end up with a mithril suite and a chest of gold). Usually, though, the real prize is knowledge and experience—in other words, happiness. Bilbo arrived home with a much better understanding of the world and his place within that world, which left him happier and more fulfilled.
So what does this have to do with you and your life? Well, you can write your own action map by pushing yourself to grow, learn, achieve your goals, and be your own hero! Here are some steps to get you started!
1. Establish a purpose: Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and the creator of Logotherapy, had this to say about purpose: "Those who have a 'why' to live can bear almost any 'how'." On My Best Self 101, we have an entire module dedicated to the purpose and purpose exercises. Click here to learn how to start some of these practices in your own life.
2. Imagine the hero within: Take ten minutes to visualize telling your life story to your future grandchildren, a group of students, co-workers who admire you, or to a close friend you haven't seen in a while. Ask yourself these questions: What accomplishments do I want to share with them? What stories do I want to be able to share? What do I want them to learn from my life? What kind of role model do I want to be? Then, establish some WOOP goals to get you there.
3. Write your own map: Think about the goals you have right now and list them out on a piece of paper. Pick the one that feels most important to you and map it out with the Action Plan. Then establish where you are in the process. Are you in a safe harbor? Adrift? At base camp? Or near the summit?
By answering these questions and developing a sense of purpose, you'll be well on your way down your own hero's journey. Watch out for the next post in our adventure mindset series, "Making Space," for tips on how to set goals to get to that next side-quest on your journey!