This is one of the prompts that I have been waiting for, as this idea of meeting a challenge and overcoming it can be so ubiquitous in our current culture. We greet a challenge and win, making ourselves the Hero of our Own Story.
This is all well and good. We certainly don’t want to be our own antagonist (adversary or person who actively opposes our desires), but it seems to have become a dominant narrative. So much so that I have actually gone out to research other story structures besides the Hero’s Journey. It seems the Hero’s Journey is credited to Homer’s Odyssey, supposedly told since the 8th century BC and published in English since 1614.
Before every story was a Hero’s Journey, people also enjoyed Tragedies and Comedies. In a Tragedy you watched someone, typically talented, ambitious, and powerful, become somehow undone and typically die, through an error seemingly anyone could make. In a Comedy, there is also some sort of error or challenge, but instead of leading to death and destruction, it leads to humorous situations. If you’ve been around long enough, it might also seem to you that life could go either way too. One thing that either a Comedy or Tragedy constantly has that is not as much of a focus in many Hero’s Journeys is a supporting cast.
Perhaps we could do better if we could figure out how to better navigate the modern world in small or medium size groups of real social support. Yes, these types of bonds can lead to drama, like the kind that would be featured in a Comedy or Tragedy. Your friend tries to make your life easier and inadvertently triggers mayhem by switching identities. Or you accidentally sleep with your cousin or mother because you meet them in a context where you don’t know you are related. These things don’t happen to me, but they were popular story themes for a while.
The structure of trying to have everyone be their own epic Hero, alone on an adventure with an audience of adoring fans, can be lonely. Your heroic journey might not be trying to pass advice about herbs down through the generations. So right now, I am more interested in stories that happen in the context of a larger group and society at large.
One of my perennial challenges is keeping my mental health in order, balancing the twins of anxiety and depression. Anxiety was never a problem in my youth, but has increased as now I have some stuff to loose. Depression on the other hand, has somewhat reduced overall, but I tend to be seasonally affected and living further north than I ever have is a challenge every single year. But these are not a Dragon I can slay and declare myself done and over. They are managed by an ensemble cast of myself with the partnership support of loved ones, and must be enjoyed as a comedy to keep it from becoming a tragedy.
The pandemic we are all living though is also a continuous challenge. Certainly it has shifted the world in ways that have revealed and accelerated trends. I am sure that for some it has created opportunities, while for others it has been an ultimate tragedy. While we all live with it, it does not affect us in the same ways or provide the same risk to us all. One of the crazy parts is we don’t even know exactly what risk it poses to us specifically. I suppose that is true of every challenge. Managing risk seems to be best done with clear decisions and continuous small corrections.
Some of my most meaningful challenges are not so much overcome as managed and integrated. It is not that there is a win or a loss. It can be either, depending on where you stop the story. Most of my life now takes place in my happily ever after, but it still is not without challenges. The challenges that define you and become part of you are the real opportunity – making the most of getting up and trying again until you actually can not.
One reply on “Challenges & Opportunities”
That is a very good point that there are lots of challenges which we must repeatedly face, like seasonal depression. Sometimes it is also difficult to know when you are actually successful.