Leading the Heroic Journey

Retirement is a heroic journey. Really.  It has all the elements of the classic heroic journey, although the story plays out differently for each person.  The heroic journey is the story that cultures throughout time have used to teach their members how to create or renew a life, a community or an organization.  An individual life is made up of a series of heroic journeys of which retirement is one of the most important.  Other journeys can be precipitated by a new job or career, losing a job, marriage or divorce, the death of a loved one, the birth of children, injury or illness, graduation from school, a move to a new community, etc.

Some journeys we initiate and some we don’t ask for, but blunder into or get thrown into.  Some are small and others are big and very challenging.  Some are very directed and some involve a lot of wandering.

Retirement, like all heroic journeys involves leaving a known world and going forth to meet a set of challenges.  Engaging those challenges is the way that we grow and become more whole – more mature and complete as people.  Those challenges are unique to each individual, but can be placed in five categories:

1.  Be the author of the experience and not the victim – even if starting out having been victimized.

2.  Let go of certain things – from roles and identity to relationships, habits and aspects of a life style.

3.  Discover and master new ways of being to replace what is ending and take advantage of opportunities that may open up

4.  Deal with “inbetweenity” – the strange land in between endings and beginnings, which can be both unsettling and exciting

5.  Manage with the “ripple effects” of the changes of retirement (impact on family, friends, groups) and realign all the elements of a life that have been altered

“PIES” – The four levels of challenge. Heroic journeys, like retirement, can test us physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.  Different journeys will test us in different ways.  Some retirement journeys will involve more physical challenges or emotional tests.  Others will be more intellectually or spiritually challenging.  Retirement is the kind of journey that has the potential to be very challenging in all four areas.

Next:  Challenge #1 – Be the Author

by Gordon Barnhart

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