Essay On Hero's Journey

When things are at their best prepare for the worst. That’s something I always told myself since I was young boy. Joseph Campbell was no stranger to this concept which he described as the hero’s journey. This journey had three stages: leaving the everyday world, overcoming trials and tribulations, and finally going back to the everyday world with newfound knowledge that you can share with people. I traveled through all three of these stages myself. This is my hero’s journey.
Everything in my everyday world was set up for me so perfectly. I just graduated from high school among a small class, got accepted into the university of my dreams, and had a job that I was about to start working for the summer. Life was great however, that’s when things turned left for me in a way I would’ve never thought of. It was about three days after I graduated and life was great. The school needed me to send my physical record up in order to complete my enrollment so I scheduled a doctor’s visit so I could get it out the way. Everything was normal until they start running blood tests. That’s when they tell me I have a very abnormal amount of bilirubin in my system. Bilirubin is basically the yellow waste product of when the liver breaks down the body’s aged blood cells and sends them to be removed from the body via urine and stool. My levels were too high. They sent me to a main children’s hospital immediately to be diagnosed.
This initiated me into the

second stage of my hero’s journey. I’m in my room sitting in silence and ambiguity since no one could tell me what was going on. The drips and blips from the IV and monitors were unusually audible. In shock I still couldn’t believe this was happening. The main question I always asked myself was, “why now?” Why when I have everything I’ve ever wanted I have a chance of losing it all. Doctors are coming in back and forth trying to console me while vaguely letting me know that they had no clue what was going on with me. They kept coming in, sometimes in teams, questioning on any symptoms I might be having. Strangely I wasn’t suffering from any symptoms and I felt more than great aside from a little bit of wavering fatigue and thirstiness. However this must not have been a good sign because every visit the doctors left more discouraged than when they entered. Then came this one doctor. He was a bit older from all the others. You could tell he was not new to this type of thing by calmness and very assuring tone. All the other doctors looked at ease when he arrived. He then questioned me about my nonexistent symptoms. When I gave him the same responses I previously gave to the other doctors he did not seemed phased and that’s what really put my mind at rest. Then he arrogantly and thoroughly explained what he thought it was and why I had it, while giving the other doctors a chance to piece it together themselves. After his conclusion was reached I was discharged and sent home with positive thoughts, medication, and peace of mind. I entered the third stage of the hero’s journey, or so I thought. I enter my house greeted by my dogs and a bombardment of my family’s questions followed by good dinner my mother made after hearing the good news. However, the next day something just didn’t feel right. I was extremely thirsty and so sluggish I felt that I would collapse at any given moment. Pissed off, I’m driven to the hospital and readmitted. I was so discouraged, depressed almost. Then the older doctor walks in with the most guilty and humbled look I’ve ever seen on a man his age. He first apologizes to me and my mother who is sitting beside with eyes locked on him with a glare so fiery he was sweating bullets. He silently leaves us alone. After about what seems like an eternity, it was really an hour, we are greeted by an older woman doctor who goes by the name of Dr. Josie. She had a warm presence and a soft voice with a bit of an English accent. She apologized on the other doctor’s behalf and promised me that she would find the problem. Two days pass and she has found the test that will give us results we’ve needed from the start. The problem is that the results would only be available after she went on vacation which would mean we would have to wait three whole weeks to see results. I’m then discharged and forced to wait what I thought would be a long time. To my surprise three days later I get a call from Dr. Josie with the test results that could change my life. “All of the results for the serious diseases came back negative”, she rejoices. At that moment I feel tons of weight just lift off of my shoulders. I am relieved. This ushers me into the next stage of my hero’s journey.
Finally I’ve returned to my everyday world with the gift of wisdom and comfort for those going through their very own journey.

That experience basically instilled in me that no matter how good things are going it could change in an instant. I also stopped taking the small things in my life for granted. I live by the phrase, “It could always be worse”. It helps me stay positive in even the most stressful situations. Things don’t affect me like they used to because I can have that positive perception of just about any problem I

have.