The Hero’s Journey–Return

To become strong, healthy, and attractive, you shouldn’t expect it to be a simple step from point A to point B, but rather a mythical hero’s journey that takes you from your normal day-to-day and tests you severely before finally giving you what you originally wanted.

This post wraps up what started in the previous two by showing you the “steps” of the third phase in the journey–the return–and how to use this to make massive changes to your own health and fitness.

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out my posts on departure and initiation first. Got it? Good. Let’s rock!

Refusal of the Return

“The bold proposal how shall I fulfill,

Dark as I am, unconscious of thy will?

Swear, then, thou means’t not what my soul forebodes;

Swear by the solemn oath that binds the gods.”

-Homer, The Odyssey

It takes great sacrifice and toil to get what we really want out of life. So when we finally achieve these things, it’s tempting to not want to go back to the “normal world.”

Once I started to get the results I wanted from working out, I got over my apprehension about it and threw myself into it completely. I started working out six days a week for an hour at a time. I’d wake up before dawn and drag myself to the gym, even though I felt like crap. I started surviving on protein shakes, egg white omelettes, unsweetened oatmeal, steamed broccoli with no butter, and unsalted chicken breasts.

It wasn’t pretty.

You might go overboard and refuse to return to the real world as well. You could become a gym rat, or you could become a food fascist, refusing to eat anything that doesn’t conform to your ultra-strict diet.

The Magic Flight

“Come on buddy, we’re not out of this yet!”

-Han Solo, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Believe it or not, it can actually be just as dangerous to leave with the “ultimate boon” than it was to get it in the first place. In mythology, a magic flight often takes the hero back to the home he had to leave during his departure.

I like to think of myself as a person who always tries to challenge his beliefs in order to come up with a more accurate “map” of the way things really are.

After years of cycling through periods of eating a low-fat, low-calorie diet and busting my ass in the gym every day, only to burn out or get hurt and revert back to sitting around on my butt eating mac and cheese, I finally started to try and figure out a way to best get the benefits of being a gym rat without the puritanical lifestyle that usually entails.

As an enthusiastic geek of evolutionary psychology–the controversial field that asserts that the human mind is the product of evolutionary forces, and we are wired best for surviving in tribes of 150 on the African savannah–I figured I’d research if anyone had done any similar research regarding the health and fitness of our caveman forebears.

Fortunately, this was just before Paleo started blowing up, and I was able to find a wealth of info on the interwebs that put forth the radical idea that we mustn’t “go to war” against our bodies, eating crummy food and exercising our asses off, in order to enjoy naturally high levels of health and fitness.

You will probably end up going too far in some of your tactics, whether it is eating a crazy diet or following an overly-complex exercise routine. Don’t worry about it. As long as you actively try to find a way to reign this stuff in and still function in the real world, you’ll be able to catch the magic flight back home.

Rescue from Without

“Adrian! Adrian!”

-Rocky Balboa, Rocky

Just as the hero needs helpers to get him to reach his goal, he often needs them to help him return from his initiation in one piece as well.

While I was first spurred on to get my ass in shape by numerous bodybuilders-cum-authors who will here go nameless, the people who really helped me figure out how to be less neurotic about my diet and exercise while still remaining in great shape include Mark Sisson, Stephan Guyenet, Martin Berkhan, Keith Norris, and Matt Stone.

As your path weaves around, your “gurus” will change as well. Always seek the next level, and find others who will help you get there (or get out of there).

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

“Oh, it’s good to be home!”

-Captain, Wall-E

The hero crosses a threshold to leave his normal life and start his initiation, but he needs to also cross that same threshold when he returns. The biggest challenge is now integrating his knowledge and skills gained from the ultimate boon and integrating them back into his life.

Eliminating all the treadmills, ellipticals, and three-sets-of-ten machine circuits that I had been doing for years in favor of brief, intense workouts consisting of compound movements was the biggest shift I had ever taken with my fitness, and it helped me to get into the best shape of my life… with far less willpower than I needed before.

Plus, by decreasing the amount of time I had to spend in the gym, I was able to focus on other important parts of my life that I had neglected all those years.

You will eventually need to turn your back on methods and tactics that you have used for a long time. (I’d suggest ditching low-calorie, low-fat, low-cholesterol diets for a start!) This should not be thought of as a step backwards. You will always retain the things that you know work for you, and it’s much better than what most people do, namely theorize endlessly and never take action.

Master of the Two Worlds

“I’m going to hang up this phone and then I’m going to show these people what you don’t want them to see. I’m going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.”

-Neo, The Matrix

The hero now must now integrate the spiritual world that he has inhabited during his departure and initiation, which he lacked before, into his daily routine.

I now have a great balance in my life. Most of the time, I eat very healthfully, exercise regularly, and sleep plenty, but I always make room for exceptions. Whether it’s the occasional late-night junk food binge, a lazy Sunday, a trip to a part of the world I’ve always wanted to experience, I can still cut loose with the best of ’em.

Balance is key to the LMVM philosophy. We work hard and play hard. “Eat better, move smarter, and relax harder” is balanced with “wine, women, and song.” Don’t be a libertine, but don’t be a puritan, either.

Freedom to Live

“A true seeker could not accept any teachings, not if he sincerely wished to find something. But he who had found, Could give his approval to every path, every goal; nothing separated him from all of the other thousands who lived in eternity, who breathed the Divine.”

-Herman Hesse, Siddhartha

Now that he has returned to his normal life, albeit with the ultimate boon, the hero is now able to be completely free to live his life for the first time. Instead of being a slave to what was holding him back before, he can now truly live in the moment.

I think it’s important to have a strict exercise program for when you are first starting out. It helps you create new habits and build new skills. But the real power comes in being able to improvise on the go once you have fully internalized some basic principles that will keep you healthy and fit.

Have any of the hero’s journeys you have undergone given you this kind of freedom? Have you worked hard to lose 20 lbs, bench press 1.5x your bodyweight, or run a marathon? Let me know in the comments!

Tagged as: hero's journey, joseph campbell, mythology, religion