Crossing the Threshold

Ah, my first attempt at a blog!  I know that other “experienced” bloggers have been doing this for quite some time, but I just haven’t felt the need to expose my innermost thoughts and feeling to the world.  At least, until Dr, Carter convinced me to…  (Ok, required me to)

Yes, I am creating this blog as a requirement for my Organizational Learning class at VCU.  But that doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy doing it.  I’ve actually been wanting to start a blog for a while now, but haven’t for a couple of reasons… 

Firstly, if I haven’t been “forced” to do something, well, it probably hasn’t made it to the A list.  Too many projects, not enough time.  And then there’s that whole exposure issue…  Will I have anything worthwhile to say?  Will the world laugh at me?  Worse yet, will people fall asleep reading my blog??

So here goes.  I’m putting myself out there under the guise that I have to do this for school.  I am crossing the threshold into uncharted territory.  And I’m hopeful that the journey will be a meaningful one.

You may already be familiar with Joseph Campbell’s version of a journey – the Hero’s Journey.   Campbell was an prominent writer and mythology professor whose ideas about archetypes and monomyths have been influential in the literary, psychological and cinematic worlds.   

His thoughts and research led him to the idea that all heros follow a universal pattern in their journeys, with particular stages to navigate and conquer.  One of these stages is known as crossing the threshold.  Below is a diagram of his Hero’s Journey:

What’s fascinating is that Campbell’s model is applicable to so many stories, from Star Wars to the Lion King to Beowulf.   We can see it in our literary characters, and we can see it in ourselves as ordinary people.

The anticipated outcome of a hero’s journey is to achieve a level of personal transformation.  In order to do this, heros are called upon to push themselves to their limits, stretch out of their comfort zones and try new things for the sake of personal growth.  For me, this blog will be my newest and scariest endeavor of recent months.  But I’m going to cross that threshold and set sail on my latest journey…