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hero

The Heroine’s Journey

January 27, 2014 By Michele Woodward 4 Comments

Katniss Everdeen

 

There’s a scene in the first Hunger Games movie that sticks with me. It’s near the end of the film – Katniss and Peeta have just had an epic fight on top of the Cornucopia with their adversary, Cato. After a tense stand-off, Cato has fallen to the ground and is being attacked by fierce dog-like things, called Mutts. You can hear the Mutts gnawing at Cato, and his agonized cries. He’s being chewed to death.

Now, if this film had been made when I was a girl, the rest of the scene would have gone this way:

Katniss: Peeta! This is horrible! What are we going to do?

Peeta: Katniss, give me the bow and an arrow. I’ll take care of it.

Katniss (holding the back of her hand to her mouth, tears streaming down her face): Oh, Peeta!

Peeta (shoots Cato through the heart): He was a worthy adversary.

[She throws her arms around him, sobbing. He comforts her. The scene ends with a passionate embrace. Fade to black.]

Instead, here’s how the scene went down:

Katniss and Peeta observe Cato being eaten alive. Without a word, and without a glance toward Peeta, Katniss slips an arrow from her quiver, nocks it, and lets it fly – performing a mercy killing for her biggest foe. Peeta says nothing. She says nothing. They move on.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a new kind of female hero. And I’ve been thinking about it so much that I went back to review Joseph Campbell’s idea of the Hero’s Journey.

Do you know Campbell’s concept? In a nutshell, it’s that throughout time a monomyth has been established across cultures to describe how a hero is made. [It will be fine if you want to take a minute and read the link – just come back lickety-split.]

What struck me is that the monomyth Campbell outlines is all about a man’s journey. Women only feature in the monomyth twice – as a goddess and as a temptress. While I like to think of myself as often as possible as the former and from time to time the latter, Campbell’s work doesn’t reflect me and my own life experience. Nor does it speak to the journeys of the women I’ve worked with and been friends with over the years.

No, the Female Hero’s Journey is markedly different from a that undertaken by a man.

Let’s face it – many of us women were raised to be “good girls”. That’s shorthand for kind, quiet, self-effacing, self-sacrificing, obedient and predictable. Oh, and to always ask for permission before we do something.

To me, the heroine’s journey is one of moving away from these external pressures toward permission to act on our own authority and to live in harmony with our own strengths, the way Katniss did. You might say, “Hey, Katniss is supposed to be 16 years old in that story – certainly she’s not completed her life’s journey.” And I would remind you that the character of Katniss was created by woman born in 1962. Perhaps author Suzanne Collins has made her own hero’s journey and reflected that knowledge and understanding in Katniss.

Because Katniss certainly is a hero. And, fortunately, Peeta loves that about her.

Why is this important? Why is knowing that a woman is on a heroine’s journey relevant?

Because there is going to be that moment at which you, or someone you love, has to take a deep breath and make the female hero’s journey. She’s going to have to decide who she wants to be.

Not who others prefer her to be, or give her permission to be – but who she knows she needs to be so she can be fully herself.

If she senses that one choice, or a series of small choices, can put her further down the hero’s path then maybe – just maybe – making those choices will be easier for her.

Maybe if she can acknowledge that she’s on a hero’s path then she can do the hard or scary thing. The thing that takes her even deeper into herself, so she can emerge stronger, wiser, and better able to be a force for good in the world.

Maybe, just maybe, in that moment when she gets to choose, she’ll pull out the equivalent of her own arrow. She’ll nock it, aim, and let it fly.

And you’ll be right there at her side, safe in the knowledge that she’s strong enough to do what’s right.

[photo: Murray Close/Lion’s Gate Entertainment]

Filed Under: Authenticity, Blog, Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Uncategorized, WiseWork Tagged With: hero, heroine's journey, Joseph Campbell, Katniss, mid-life, monomyth

Good Enough?

March 6, 2011 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

It fairly radiates from some people, doesn’t it?  You can see it in their eyes.  In the way they hold their shoulders.  They have a crushing belief that they’re not good enough.  Never will be good enough. Couldn’t possibly be good enough.

Since they’re always going to be a little bit short, they work like maniacs.  Putting in killer hours and slaving away to make sure every “i” is dotted and every “t” is crossed – sometimes spending hours and hours checking and re-checking their dotting and crossing.

Because if they make a mistake – even one tiny, infinitesimal error – then the whole jig is up and everyone in the world will know what they themselves believe:  I am not good enough.

But we can already see it – they’re telegraphing with every step they take.  Like people pretending that the bad toupee is real hair.  We all know, don’t we?

Perhaps this is the heart of perfectionism.  The relentless chase to prove the unprovable – to prove one’s basic worth.

I say it’s unprovable, because I truly don’t believe the premise.

Because in Michele World, there’s no such thing as “not good enough”.

Every person has worth, because every person is here.

And whatever you do is good enough because it’s what you did.  If the result was less than happy, then try again.

That’s all you have to do.

When you free yourself from the heavy rock of not being good enough, guess what happens?  Things get pretty good. When you’re not fixated on making mistakes, you make less of them. When you know, rather than doubt, that you have skills, strengths, resources and resilience – why then, you can call on them at will. You succeed. You thrive. You soar.

I love those stories where an unsuspecting person discovers superhuman powers and then uses them to do heroic service.  Think Harry Potter:  living in a cupboard under the stairs, wearing cast-off clothes, suffering, until he finds out that he’s not only a wizard, but The Wizard, foretold in a prophecy.   He goes on to defeat evil and restore order in the world.

So, too, Luke Skywalker.  All Luke wants to do is leave the arid, desolate moisture farm run by his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru and have some fun with his friends over in Tosche Station. Circumstances prevail and he discovers his birthright as a Jedi Knight and ultimately defeats evil and restores order in the world.

And I’d be remiss if I forgot to mention Claire Bennet in the TV show “Heroes”.  Claire’s a typical teenager, a cheerleader who finds out she has the ability to spontaneously regenerate – she cannot die – and goes on to defeat evil and restore order in the world.

See the pattern? Normal, everyday people discover something amazing about themselves and what they’re capable of doing. And go on to create something really good in the world.

I know what you’re thinking – “I don’t have any special ability – I’m not good enough to have any.”

Once again, I am going to disagree.

You have special gifts. You do. You just can’t see them. Maybe you’ve disowned them.

Maybe they make you uncomfortable.

But when you embrace them, when you own what’s really best about you – you will know, once and for all, that you are indeed good enough.

Doesn’t matter what happened in your last job. Or the one before that. Or what happened in your marriage. Or how your kids turned out. Or that your mother died. Or how much you weigh. Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter.

Align yourself with your gifts. 

And defeat evil. Restore order to your world.

Be the hero you were born to be.

It’s all that matters.

Filed Under: Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living Tagged With: Claire Bennet, good enough, happiness, Harry Potter, hero, Luke Skywalker, maximizing potential

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