The Parts of Seperation in the Monomyth
The Parts of Seperation in the Monomyth
The Call to Adventure
Refusal of the Call
Supernatural Aid
Crossing the First Threshold
In the context of trauma and healing these things look like:
The Call to Adventure
We are not going to call trauma ‘adventure’. Trauma is highly painful, frightening, life altering and it is never a GOOD thing.
What is the ‘adventure’ is the quest to heal. And adventures don’t have to be ‘fun’ like we see on tv. (If we’re entirely honest with ourselves, most events in action adventure movies are not fun in real life.)
Healing is a rocky messed up road that is not easy, and its a lifelong journey for some of us. Its unrealistic to say, “I dealt with the scary thing once. We’re done and I’m not going to see it ever again.” That’s not true.
In the quest to protect us, our bodies and minds will often hide the trauma. Its not that we’re warring against ourselves - its that there’s some inner wisdom that says, “Nope. Not today.”
Refusal of the Call
The moment our mind/body combination (which makes us human) says to healing or confronting the traumatic events, “Nope. Not today,” this is the refusal of the call to healing.
It simply means that we’re not ready for the journey which somehow our instincts know we need to take.
It could also be that someone or something is blocking us. Intimidation of the process of being vulnerable is a common problem here. Or the idea of, “I don’t need counseling, I’m fine.”
Yet, there is always some part of us which recognizes that whatever made us different (the trauma) is seperating us and keeping us under its control. We are an accidental hostage to the trauma. And that’s why we feel seperate.
Supernatural Aid
You don’t have to believe in the supernatural to understand this. It simply means that something will always commit us to the quest of healing. We may not realize it when it happens, but this is a push that we recieve which forces us to answer quest instead of turning away.
Crossing the First Threshold
This is when you take the first step to healing. You’ve decided to attempt to put yourself back together, or you’ve turned your back on the trauma which wants to hold you under its unhealthy control.
I’ll break each of these down in the coming weeks.
And my…
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