The Return to a Better Empowered Normal
The Return to a New Normal - A Better Empowered Normal
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A quick review of the monomyth…
There are three big categories- Seperation- Initiation- ReturnSeparation called us into the adventure, where we stepped across a threshold into the tough stuff of healing and facing the things which make us fear.
In the Initiation phase we faced those fears, and while it wasn’t fun… we’re here today… which means we won. It wasn’t fun but you won. The things that have frightened us can no longer hold us captive - because we survived.
Certainly we’ll have rotten days where we unfortunately slide back into mindsets which will attempt to drag us back to those places, but we know how to escape and have the tools to create our own victories.
The Return section is the process of going back to the world of people who haven’t been on adventures… and they’re happy with their small lives. They’re normal.
And that ‘normal’, can be a little scary, because you’re different. You were different when you started your adventure and were separated from the normal - but now you bring extra wisdom and skills back into their bland world.
And that can make you a target. Not because you’re bad, or did anything wrong - but because being different is hard. You used to probably hide what made you different… however, after your healing adventure, you won’t be able to hide.
There’s something about adventure and healing that makes you physically and emotionally different. You stand taller. You don’t want to walk with the crowd. Sometimes, because you’ve been through things, you recognize with wisdom where the crowd of normal people are going, you know where it leads and you don’t want it to be your destination - AGAIN!
This is good. This is wisdom. This is right. This is you using your shadow skills, to act as wisdom - like the meeting with the goddess - and saving people. Maybe not literally. The most famous ancient prophets and modern voices to raise alarm, are almost never listened to. They are marginalized because some people aren’t ready to change their behaviors or don’t see the need to change.
But you are different. And its wonderful. You’re going to go back into the normal with healing and wisdom, and people will recognize and respond to that.
You will be returning carrying your healing. Your healing is your healthy new normal. And that healing will give you the confidence to deal with the smaller normal, hostile, non-adventurous world.
As we go through the final portion of the monomyth it is important to keep your healing and yourself protected as you begin to interact with others who don’t know the tough journey you went through.
You don’t have to save anyone other than yourself.
Try to find people who you can trust and who will respect your healing.
Continue to work on your healing, knowing you can always return to your work and go through the monomyth again and again as situations or themes appear that you need to work through.
Next week we’ll go over the steps in the return process.
Perpetual Disclaimer for this series:
I am not a counselor or a mental health professional. I am going to attempt to avoid things which will cause alarm or harm, but I can't know what will trigger each individual. If you need to speak to a mental health professional please know that there are resources available.
Your stories are amazing!
Chronic Writer
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