Week 5 - A Hero's Journey

Jeff Sandefer’s A Hero’s Journey begins with a seemingly complex statement (taken from Hero’s Journey of Entrepreneurship): “The hero’s journey is all about you, but it’s not about you at all.” As he predicted, I was confused and unsure that I would be able to decipher the meaning. Surprisingly, his incredible words shared in this week’s video brought me to a much deeper understanding of myself, my purpose and what really matters in life.

We first need to understand what it means to be on a hero’s journey. While most of us strive to live a life that contributes positively to the world around us, far less aim for the traditional definition of hero status – I’m confident that a Marvel superhero career is not in my future. The true meaning of a hero’s journey, as Sandefer clarifies, “means to live every moment of your life like it matters, because it does.” Being on a hero journey begins with knowing who you are and where you come from; our eternal heritage and potential enables us with the sacred opportunity to achieve hero status in our lives.

Sandefer doesn’t promise that if we are on a hero’s journey that life will be easy and without complications, mistakes and repentance. As he points out, “You’ll have even more setbacks and more battles because the stakes will be higher. But you’ll fight those battles and be more satisfied and fulfilled because you’ll make a difference.” That satisfaction and fulfillment comes from knowing our personal value and utilizing our unique gifts and talents to add value to the world around us. The trials we endure reinforce our ability to overcome the temptations of the world and better enable us to share a message of hope with others. We are refined by struggle.

As I listened to the entirety of Sandefer’s words, I came to better understand the perplexing statement he began his thoughts with, “The hero’s journey is all about you, but it’s not about you at all.” I now know that the hero’s journey is all about us working to understand and reach our eternal potential so that we can more fully lose ourselves in the pursuit God’s purpose.

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