The Hero’s Journey–Initiation

Everyone’s path towards health and fitness plays out like the hero’s journey, a template found in the religions and myths of most cultures.

But rather than simply being the stuff of stories, this blueprint mirrors the path that we all must take in our lives if we are to become truly self-actualized. In particular, the hero’s journey holds particular importance to men, as it shows us a masculine path from immaturity to maturity.

In my last post, I detailed the first part of the path–departure. In this post, I will go in-depth on the next phase–initiation.

Initiation is the time where the rubber hits the road–where the hero busts his ass off and eventually gets what he has been striving for all along.

The Road of Trials

“We see the death from which we cannot move,

and humbled groan beneath the hand of Jove.”

-Homer, The Odyssey

You will generally meet with many obstacles in your path as you move towards what you want. Each one will test you in a different way, and each one will teach you something new. You may very well fail some of these tests, but you must keep going, no matter what.

When I first started working out, I did primarily bench presses, bicep curls, and crunches (aka the “holy trinity” of exercises) with cardio and some circuits on the machines to round things out. Although I did plenty of research on exercises before I even hit the gym for the first time, I hit obstacle after obstacle.

First off, my form sucked. I was more interested in moving a lot of weight than doing it in a way that wouldn’t injure me. Although I lucked out and avoided hurting myself, I did have a few close calls. (Getting stuck under a barbell you can’t get racked, anyone?) Through trial and error (and help from others at the gym) I slowly learned the good form that I should have been focusing on in the first place.

Perhaps you are trying exercises that you’ve never tried before. Maybe you are faced with a big pile of potatoes that you need to peel to make mashed potatoes. There will always be challenges in front of you. Keep pushing yourself. And don’t give up if you fail.

The Meeting With the Goddess

“I wanna tell you a little secret: being the one is just like being in love. No one needs to tell you that you are in love. You just know it, through and through.”

-The Oracle, The Matrix

In myths, the hero is often met by an all-powerful goddess that represents a spiritual and unconditional love. Although very few people will meet an actual deity in trying to get into shape (except some sadistic Crossfitters, who actually look forward to vomiting after their workouts), you will get to the point when you realize that getting into shape allows you to get in touch with something bigger in your life.

I’m not a religious guy, so I’ve had to wing it and come to my own conclusions when it comes to spiritual matters, but I do believe that we all need to be working towards a greater good, even if we are doing it solo.

One of the “big four” reasons that I believe people want to become healthy and fit is the energy (or strength) it provides. The better physical health you have, the more stamina you have to go out and make a difference in the world.

One of the hallmarks of being a mature man is moving from consumption to creation. Do you want to start your own business? Travel the world? Start a charity? Become an artist? Get your physical health together and these great things will become much more doable.

Woman as the Temptress

“Oh stay, O pride of Greece! Ulysses, stay!

Oh cease thy course and listen to our lay!

Blest is the voice ordain’d our voice to hear,

The song instructs the soul, and charms the ear.”

-The Sirens, The Odyssey

You will be tempted time and time again to give up and turn back.

Just as the “goddess” you meet in the previous step isn’t necessarily a woman, the “temptress” you meet here isn’t necessarily one either.

It could be all the junk food that your friends and family eat. Or it might be the temptation to skip your workouts and instead sit at home all night and watch the James Bond movie marathon. It could also be never getting a good night’s sleep because you are up late all the time on Facebook.

Temptations to stray off the path are everywhere. Don’t freak out if you fall off the wagon a bit, but make sure you get right back on again as soon as you realize you have.

When I was first starting to work out, I was watching a lot of TV. (I grew up practically glued to one.) I had many shows that I watched, so I always had a convenient excuse for not going to the gym. It was around this time that I started to kick my TV habit, but I was always able to “make up for lost time” if I did spend a week or two lounging around.

Atonement with the Father

“You were right about me. Tell your sister… you were right.”

-Darth Vader, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

The “center point” of the Hero’s Journey is the atonement with the father, where you confront and make peace with the person (or thing) that holds ultimate power in your life. Here, the hero dies and becomes reborn, in a certain sense.

As I mentioned in the last post, I was a bit apprehensive over starting to spend time in the gym. I was the punk rocker, not the meathead who hangs out in gyms. But over the course of months, I started noticing the changes that resulted from going to the gym, as did others. I started feeling more energetic. And I ran into a lot of other people there who were in the same boat as I was. I realized that I wasn’t being “weird” by stepping out of my comfort zone; I was doing the thing that would help me accomplish more with my life.

Looking back on it now, being in shape these past years has helped me get a lot more done with my life than I did before, when I was lethargic and unambitious. My guess is that it will do the same for you, no matter how much the steps to get there may seem unnatural to you.

Apotheosis

“Only after disaster can you be resurrected. It is only after you have lost everything that you are free to do anything.”

-Tyler Durden, Fight Club

Apotheosis is the point in the journey where the hero becomes deified. He may not literally become a god, but he now possesses a divine power that he never had before.

I’ll be a little more humble in assessing my own apotheosis, but I can assure you that I achieved things that I would have never otherwise thought possible. This is best seen in my completion of two sub-4:00 marathons, which both happened less than five years after I first set foot in a gym. Although I never made running more than a small-time passion of mine, these events were some of the most fun and worthwhile experiences of my life.

Maybe you’ll be able to take your shirt off at the beach for the first time without feeling self-conscious. Or play catch with your dog without getting winded. Or just wake up in the morning without feeling like crap for once. The impossible is not only possible, but inevitable if you take the right path.

The Ultimate Boon

“‘Precious, precious, precious!’ Gollum cried. ‘My Precious! O my Precious!’ And with that, even as his eyes were lifted up to gloat on his prize, he stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink, and then with a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came his last wail Precious, and he was gone.”

-J.R.R. Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

This is the achievement of what the hero sets out for in the first place, the ultimate culmination of all his efforts.

As I mentioned before, I started hitting the gym because I thought that girls liked guys with muscles so big that The Thing would be intimidated. To be honest, it took me a long time doing ridiculous bodybuilding diets and exercise programs that I realized that this (thankfully) wasn’t the case, and I was largely wasting my time.

Instead, I realized that most women prefer a guy with a lean physique that isn’t outrageously “huge.” It’s really only us guys who think that stuff is cool. And while I’d attribute my increasing success with the ladies over the following years to be more the result of getting my shit together and making life happen, making the transformation away from “Skinny-Fat Darrin” certainly made things much easier.

In the next post, we’ll look at the final stage in the Hero’s Journey: The Return.

Tagged as: joseph campbell, the hero's journey