What to Expect

What to Expect on the Journey

The heroic journey tells the truth about the basic experience of being a teenager and provides common ground for conversations with peers and adults – the conversations that help you become the author of your life and deal with the challenges and tests on the journey. 

The underlying pattern of the journey provides a common understanding of the territory, but each person will experience the journey in their own way.

Yes, You Really are on a Heroic Journey

You are on a heroic journey that is an extraordinary experience and a noble undertaking.   You are naturally thrown from the known of childhood into the unknown of being a teenager.

This is a noble journey because, it is a time where courage, perseverance and resilience are required.  It is a time when you discover your better selves and often help each other in doing so.  It is frequently a time that requires the ability to take smart risks and recover from the setbacks and injuries that are inevitable on the journey.

The journey is about leaving a known world and letting go of old identities as children and developing identities as young adults.  It is about letting go of the more superficial relationships of childhood and developing more mature relationships.  And you have to develop a surprising number of competencies to be successful young adults.

It’s About Becoming the Author of Your Life

The heart of the heroic journey is becoming the author of your life – taking charge & taking responsibility. You can’t control the journey, but you can have a surprising amount of influence over the experience.  This is the fundamental shift from childhood dependence to young adult independence

We Grow by Being Challenged & Tested

Whether as a teenager or an adult, we develop and mature by being tested in various ways.  The learning and development often happens outside of our comfort zone, which can be uncomfortable as well as exciting.   But, it doesn’t need to be destructive. 

There are Three Big Core Challenges for Teenagers

• Forming an identity as a young adult
• Developing new more mature relationships
• Building the competencies required for success as a young adult

There are Three Different Types of Test Encountered

• Letting Go of childhood
• Discovering and mastering the ways of adulthood
• Dealing with  “Inbetweenity” (being in-between childhood and young adulthood

You Will Grow by Being Challenged & Tested on 5 Levels

• Physical
• Intellectual
• Emotional
• Social
• Spiritual

You Will Need to “Hold the Course”

Because it’s a 10-year journey, the ability to persevere (not giving up) is critical.  You will build resilience (the ability to bounce back) as you go.  And you will need to build a support network, avoid the energy traps and find the sources of energy to sustain you on the journey.