#194 The Hero's Journey -- Leave the Ordinary World Behind and Live a Great Story

Rachel Denning (00:10.542)
Every great story, movie, or book contains elements of what's been called the hero's journey. A series of events and experiences that make the story meaningful and transformational. The hero's journey is the process by which the hero to be becomes the hero of the story.

The interesting thing is that the same elements which make a great story also make a great life. You can become the hero of your own life by living and following the hero's journey. When you do, you finally get out of the bleachers and into the arena of truly living. But this starts by stepping from the ordinary world into the unknown. But how do you do that? And how do you do it if you have children and a family?

Doesn't that prevent you from becoming the hero of your own life story simply because you have other people to be responsible for? That's what we dive into in this episode. Listen now for specific strategies to create and live a great life story by becoming the hero of your own life as you live and grow and level up in each area of importance. If you've ever felt a call to do something different or bigger than what you're doing now, then don't miss this inspiring episode.

and learn how to accept the call, leave the ordinary world, and step into the unknown. This episode is sponsored by the Extraordinary Family Life formula. Meet live on Zoom every month with Greg and me to discuss powerful tools for creating your extraordinary family life. Plus, get complete access.

to all of our past recordings, coaching sessions, workshops, and courses on everything from marriage to parenting, mastering money, lifestyle design, and more. Click the link in the show notes to become a member of the Extraordinary Family Life Formula today and save 50 % with the coupon code.

Rachel Denning (02:12.814)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Extraordinary Family Life podcast.

Rachel Denning (02:20.142)
I'm your host, Rachel. Yes! Take it, babe. Own it! This is Queen Rachel, and I am her... What's the little dude? A pawn. I am the little pawn, like, from... What was that? Men in Black International. Glad to have you guys here. Thanks for listening. Thanks for being a part of our community. I get to hear from you guys every week, and we get awesome.

Comments and questions great questions and things we can talk about and people just reach out saying hey, thanks man Just listen this episode is changing my life or listen this episode. It was just perfect timing for something I've been thinking about or struggling with and so we're grateful for you and grateful that you're here listening and that you're You're awesome. Thanks for being awesome Today we're gonna dive into one element of the hero's journey We've talked about the hero's journey before most of you probably heard about it, but ultimately it's it's the elements of

being the hero of your own life story. And in every great story, every great movie, every great book, there's elements of the hero's journey. And it's all based from Joseph Campbell's, um, hero with a thousand faces. And he outlines like, this is, this is what makes a story great. And in one of our all time favorite books, a million miles in a thousand years, he goes through this and how it applies to life. Well, the premise of,

Campbell's book, which actually we haven't read, but we've read a lot about. I have the book. I haven't read it yet. Is that in all great stories, everything from the Iliad to Harry Potter, there's a theme. There's this, it's basically the same story told in a different way, right? And it's the, it's the hero's journey and this whole process that the hero or the hero to be.

goes through to become the hero, essentially. It's leaving the ordinary world, which we're going to talk about. It's going into the unknown. It's facing the trials. It's finding the mentor. It's facing the abyss, having the transformation, all of these things that are part of this hero's journey that are essentially what make up a great story, every great book, every great movie.

Rachel Denning (04:35.598)
follows essentially the hero's journey and like you were saying in a million miles in a thousand years, the book by Donald Miller, he says that also every great life follows the hero's journey. Same elements. So he's like the same thing that make a great story, make a great life. So if you think of your all time favorite book and favorite movie, like a story book, right? Then a novel story, there's going to be these same elements in there. And that's the same thing that makes for a great life. And so if you and I want to live,

fantastic lives, extraordinary lives, then we also have to include these elements of the hero's journey. Instead of sitting in the sidelines, so to speak, or up in the bleachers, hoping our life works out, as we watch from the bleachers saying, oh no, no, don't let that happen. Instead of getting on, we've got to get down on the court or on the field. Or being in the arena, like that quote by Roosevelt. Yes, exactly.

So get out of the bleachers and into the arena of life. And like he points out so well, you're gonna get some mud and sweat and tears and blood on you and you're gonna have some failures, but you can't just sit on the sidelines and hope things work out well for you to live an extraordinary life. So one of the elements is what we're gonna focus on today. One of those elements is to leave the ordinary world.

In fact, it's not the first element, but it's pretty close to the beginning of a hero's journey. Because, and if we were here together having a conversation, we would ask, and you'd have so many great insights to share. But the fundamental question is, well, why? Why do we have to leave the ordinary world? Can't we just stay?

It's comfortable. It's so comfortable here. It's so familiar. I just worked so hard to get this set up where it's convenient, it's comfortable, everything's nice. It's the known. Yeah. What we know. Like this is my safe, happy place. And ultimately it's like, yeah, we're not saying you have to walk away from it all or even walk away from society. Really, I think. Although sometimes that is part of it. Sometimes that is the case. You do. You have to like say, I'm out. And.

Rachel Denning (06:57.678)
And what's interesting is you might physically stay, but mentally or emotionally or socially or spiritually, financially say, I'm out of here. And that might be with families, like generational family dynamics that it's always, it's been this way for so long. And you just say, no, it stops right here. This ends with me, this trend, this family trend. And maybe it's something like your family for generations has been overweight.

Everyone's just been overweight. This is eating stuff and overweight. And you just say, no, that stops right here. It ends with me. And the family I'm beginning, we're going to be healthy and fit. We're going to eat well. We're going to be totally, and they're going to be like, what? Who do you think you are? What are you doing? Right? You think you're better than us? Yeah. You think you're better? Oh, come on. Come to the family gatherings and eat all the stuff we just eat. And you're like, no, I'm not. We're not participating anymore. Because we're going to live, we're going to enjoy extraordinary health and fitness instead of the ordinary.

And I think it's an important distinction here, and we're not throwing anybody under the bus. If you want to live an ordinary life, like you are just totally content being the ordinary, great. That's awesome. I have no idea why you're listening to this podcast. Because our message is for living an extraordinary life. And so if you're okay with that, great. Then ultimately what I was going to say is,

Ordinary is just another word for mediocre or for average. Ordinary is doing what everybody else is doing and getting the same results. And there's millions and billions of people that do that. And that's, you know, a valid way to live. But if you're listening to this podcast, that's probably not, you're not happy settling with that. And so in order to... Because it feels like you're settling. Yeah, right. For those people, it does feel like you're settling.

But in order to pursue extraordinary, you have to leave the quote unquote ordinary world, like in the hero's journey, you have to leave the known and go into the unknown. So the question is, and there's no way just the two of us could give some exhaustive list. So I want you to think about this and write about it and identify what it means to you. But.

Rachel Denning (09:20.75)
I want you to spend some time thinking why you have to do it and what specifically you want or need to do to leave the ordinary world. What does that mean for you and what is it you need to do? Because in some ways you may have already left. You might already be doing things in a different way and it's unique or unconventional or non -conformist. It made me think of that great book by Chris Gillibault called The Art of Non -Conformity. It also made me think of the Jackrabbit Factor. And these just books have saying, you know what, we're...

We're just gonna do life differently here. I'm gonna step away from the herd, from the big wide path. And again, this is all through the Bible too, right? The broad path with everyone and following the narrow path and going through the narrow path, the gate and choosing the different way of living, right? And so not settling, not acquiescing, not living in the world, but not necessarily being of the world. It's that same distinction, right? So it's been...

It's been taught for millennia. And we just want to just drive this home. Yeah, and outline what that looks like and how you actually do that in your own life. And especially, particularly with a family. Because a lot of times we think because we have a family that prevents us from maybe even just living a hero's journey. Like, oh, how can I do that?

I have a family, I have kids, I have responsibility, all of these things. And we personally believe and live in a way that proves that that's not true because we've definitely pursued the hero's journey multiple times even because it's cyclical. You know, you go through it and then you go back. At the end of the hero's journey, you go back to the ordinary world and then you begin another hero's journey later in something else. And we've done that several times.

And so it can be an evolving process where a certain aspect you could go through it again and again and again and higher and higher, maybe spiraling upward. It could also be in certain aspects. So you go through a hero's journey with your health and you go through a hero's journey with your wealth and you go through a hero's journey with your family lifestyle. And you could take it into your religion or your faith and your spirit through your.

Rachel Denning (11:47.853)
mind and education. And so you're looking at these different things. And so, yeah, this is, that's a lot, right? And for some people it's going to be harder than others. And some aspects might be harder. I remember there was elements for us that were just terrifying and tough. Absolutely. The couple of things I thought of, one of them, like you were just saying, part of the hero's journey actually is having the call to adventure. That's actually one of the very first steps is essentially you fill this call.

to do something different and better. Maybe it's with your health or with your spirituality or with your money or with pursuing your dreams. And then the next step is usually the refusal of the call. Like that is actually a part of the process is that we think, oh, I'm going to do this. You get inspired or motivated about something and then you get frightened and you're like, I'm not so sure if I can do that or if I should do that or it's going to be too hard. That's.

That's the refusal of the call. It's kind of saying, oh, I don't know about this. I talked about this today in one of my coaching sessions with a client, and it was really insightful. Again, one of the reasons people refuse is because they don't want to leave the ordinary world. Like, hey, this is pretty nice, or at least pretty comfortable, pretty familiar. But one of the things that was insightful that came out of our conversation today was how we miss out on opportunities. Sometimes it's fear. Sometimes it's complacency.

sometimes it's hesitation, which was really interesting to me, just to really think through that. Sometimes we miss out just because we hesitate. The opportunity comes and you're like, oh, I wanna do it. Should I do it? It's kinda scary. Okay, I'm gonna do it. I think I'm gonna do it. Give me a minute, give me a minute. And we hesitate and then the door closes. Which is in a way is a form of procrastination. Or indecision. Yeah, by not deciding you actually...

are deciding in the opposite. And hesitancy, procrastination can rob us of so many awesome opportunities. That's something that we've always been good at doing. We don't hesitate. If we decide to do something, it's like, that's it. We're done. We go. We're all in. We're full swing. Well, because we've tried intentionally to live by really a ready fire aim philosophy. Right.

Rachel Denning (14:15.341)
Like, look, there's a chance here, let's go. And sometimes it doesn't work out and we learn from it and have great stories to tell afterwards. But - I would say most of the time it works out. More often than not, we look back and be like, wow, that was awesome. Even the ones that didn't work out, quote unquote, I think it still worked out. Absolutely. And because of how much you learn and how much you grow, it still is just so -

beneficial overall. Because you're just taking a chance. Yeah. You're like, oh, you know what? I could try that. Let's go. And you try it. And even if it doesn't work out, you get out there and you're like, oh, OK, well, this is what we're missing. And this is what we learn. And this is what we'll do differently next time. And wow, man, here's an insight or a relationship or a friendship or whatever. Like, that never would have happened. We never would have had this experience. We met these people. Have we not just taken a chance? I think our whole life has been like that. And even from.

when we first met. I mean, we were engaged within six weeks. That's insane. But it was, and then married six weeks later, but that's just how we started our life. And we've done everything like that. Gosh, we started life together like this. This is wild heroes journey. Like we're not, we're not going to conform here. We're not going to follow. We're not hesitating. We don't hesitate. We just go. We're not going to settle for norms. Cause again, for me and then we're just sharing what has worked for us.

For me.

I want to live. I want to squeeze the juice out of life. I want to take opportunities. I want to live boldly. Yeah. And see what's possible. And it's so fast. I'm almost just coming to this realization right now. I mean, it's so fascinating because I think we have been able to do all of the things we've done. I mean, we've lived multiple lifetimes of experiences. We were just saying the other day, we've forgotten.

Rachel Denning (16:13.677)
all of the things that we've done, like incredible experiences and interactions. We've forgotten so many things that we have done because we have done so much in a relatively short amount of time. I mean, 20, we've been married for 20 something years and during that time we've lived like 50 or a hundred years of experience, but it really can be attributed to this lack of hesitancy that we have, where we just, we get an idea and we just go for it.

It's created so many special opportunities. The reason this came up, you guys, I was invited and hired to go do a keynote speech out and fly out in Denver for this amazing organization. This whole organization, their whole message is about helping successful business people and entrepreneurs really live, squeeze the juice out of life. So this is our organization, right? This is our kind of message. And I was just.

I was putting together my slides and presentations and I was looking for some pictures and I had to scroll for a long, long time to see, to find the pictures I want. And as I was doing that, I'm like, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, I forgot about that. Oh, I forgot about that. Well, that story, that experience, that thing. I mean, it's just - That country, that place. That guy, like - I forgot. Oh man, I can't believe it. And it just, there was just so much has happened.

And so we've had this hero's journey many, many, many times to go on a trip and even inside of a trip. And one of the reasons I'm just emphasizing this again, because it's coming to me now, one of the reasons we've been able to do it and do it so often and do it so much is because we don't hesitate. We get the call and that doesn't mean that we don't have fears or hesitations.

or concerns or worries or obstacles, they're still there. But when we get that call, we listen to that call. We pay attention to that call and then we pursue it. We actually, this morning we were talking about our fears and concerns with the current call that we feel called to do. And you look at the conditions of the world right now and the society and economy and the winter we're in and things are happening and you're like, what are we doing?

Rachel Denning (18:34.669)
This is insane. This logically does not make sense. One of my other coaching clients, he's like, you know, one could argue that what you guys are about to do is not very wise. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I could argue that. In fact, I have been arguing that. Exactly. But it doesn't always make sense. But if it's there and there's opportunities. If the call is there, it needs to be.

and followed, which interestingly, so if you look up the hero's journey online, you know, you can look for images that illustrate it and there's lots of different variations and there's, you know, there's, they're not all the same, but there's a general theme and an overall pattern. But one of the things before you actually leave the known world, leave the ordinary world, is that you have supernatural aid or a mentor.

And so I think I want to emphasize that this is another key piece because as we're talking about our own hero's journey that we're embarking on again, which includes moving to Portugal, that one of the ways we're able to move forward, right? We're talking about this lack of hesitancy that we have. One of the reasons we're able to move forward is because we've always had that mentor there, which often takes form of a book for us or sometimes a coach or whatever. And we have...

this supernatural aid, so to say. It's almost this... It's God in the universe conspiring in our favor. But it comes in like this sense of knowing of like, yeah, this is what we're supposed to be doing. And that comes in different ways. I kind of emphasize there though something important.

Some people get confused about the knowing when they really attach themselves to societal scripts. Like they've been given a script or they've been indoctrinated some way or it was the way their family had always done things or the way their community had always done things or the way their church has always done things. And so they're like, that's the thing. And it's like, well.

Rachel Denning (20:50.989)
Again, you have to question this and it's almost always kind of unconventional. So it's going against the grain very often and it's very non -conformist. Not always, but very often it is. So when you start to feel it... Are you talking about the call to adventure? Yeah, this call or the knowing. I'm talking about like the divine help of like... I don't know, it's not always just cut and dry and we have to be careful. Am I in this kind of...

echo chamber and and I'm like no I'm feeling guided to do this thing I've always been told and everybody's always done. Yeah it can't and I know when we started out, to expound more on this, it was more difficult to get clarity about that. I think it's gotten easier over the years as we've practiced doing it. It feels a little more clear, it feels a little more cut and dried in a way but definitely when you're starting out and like the first time you're

doing a process like this and aware of it happening, it can be very confusing. Like, well, wait, is this supernatural? Is this my supernatural guide or am I just delusional? Right? Right. Yeah, you're right. No, it takes, it takes a lot of practice, especially takes practice to even, well, this fits perfectly with today's topic of, of leaving the ordinary world. It takes a lot of effort to even to be able to think or consider outside of what's ordinary, what's normal, what's, what's common and known to you.

because you don't know what you don't know. Exactly. And if you're, you just know that world and everything you have right now in your life, it's just like, that's your known world. Well. And some of you haven't gone out or read much outside of it or been, you know, we often meet people that like, they haven't even met or interacted with people outside of their teeny little circle. Exactly. And so like, they're like, what?

I didn't know people like that existed. Right, and so in a way, they don't even know that there is another world. All they know is this world, and that's it. That is the world. What do you mean there's a known world and an unknown world? What do you mean there's an ordinary world and an unordinary world? Like, what does that even mean? It's like you're the fish in the fish bowl and saying, what do you mean? There's something outside of water. That doesn't make any sense. And outside of this bowl, because it's all you know.

Rachel Denning (23:17.837)
So that's kind of the invitation here is that you for you to consider and just spend some time thinking and writing and discussing this with your spouse, your kids or whoever friends family and actually be ready for some strange reactions and you say, hey, what do you think about leaving the ordinary world? They're like, what are you suicidal? But I want you to make a list. And actually, so I lead a mentor group of youth. As long as I have teens myself, I'm going to.

mentor other teens, I just love it. And I mentor a group of youth, it's called the Mentor Accountability Program. We were talking about this today. I just wanted them to share some ideas and I wrote down some ideas. Like what does it mean to leave the ordinary world? And here are some thoughts. I'm just gonna throw these out. Again, it's not exhaustive, I want you to think through it. What does it look like for you? But one of it is like you're actually doing new things. And it can start small, but then it can go quite big where you're doing something different, something new.

You're sparking whatever it is from food to clothes to experiences. Going to new places, trying new things. Talking to different people, having different discussions. 90 % of our thoughts are just repeats from yesterday and I would suspect most of our conversations are just kind of repeats. When was the last time you just totally had a conversation way outside of what you normally talk about or think about?

Well, and going back to this idea, for a lot of people that's uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable for all of us. You're like, because either you don't know what to say or they're talking about things you don't even understand or things that just go against what you believe. And so you find it uncomfortable. Like it's literally almost makes your skin crawl or like you cringe in a way. I had another conversation with somebody today about that.

And it was insightful to me that.

Rachel Denning (25:17.005)
that it's that like, wait a minute, this is what I've always believed and this person has a little bit, little kind of freer ideas than I do. And it feels like threatening or unattractive or kind of disturbing. And you're like, I don't know if I even like this person, but I'm kind of listening and they're kind of weird because they think different things. And you're right, but we have to get to this place. Cause I was...

And again, I used to be like that. I used to be that guy. You and I, we were that. We were super, super in the box. And we'd meet people and we're like, they're crazy. But then you get the thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking, like, OK, I can see a different perspective. I could see how they could believe that. Right. Or how they could see that. And some of them even like, OK, you know what? You have a very valued argument. And I'm going to expand my understanding here. Yeah. I was also thinking of our own daughter, our oldest daughter.

She loves new ideas. She loves discussing new ideas. She loves, you know, thinking about things outside of the box. And, and she went to a church meeting actually once with somebody and they did it in a different way, a way that wasn't normal, you know, or, or conventional or orthodox. And our daughter loved that. She thought it was amazing. She said, that was so great. It was like engaging. It was new. It was different. It was novel. And

was with another person and they were like, oh I didn't like that at all, I hated it. And so in a way that's kind of what we're talking about is that we can get stuck in these ruts in a way. Ordinary world. Yeah, that's the ordinary world. We get stuck in these things that we're used to things being done a certain way or said a certain way or whatever. Like we're just used to it being this ordinary way. And

while that can have its place and its value and its benefit, that if we don't get outside of that, that's where our learning and growth are limited because ultimately that's what the hero's journey is about. It's about becoming the hero of your own life story. It's about transforming and growing and ascending. And that can't happen as long as we remain in the ordinary world, the one that we're used to. Say it again, babe. Say it again.

Rachel Denning (27:43.917)
That can't happen, that transformation cannot happen as long as we remain in the ordinary world. So here are some other things that we need to, well not need, but here are some things we can consider. Stop caring what the crowd thinks. That's another element. To leave the ordinary world, you have to literally stop caring what the crowd thinks. That can be a tough one. Which we just did a podcast episode on that last week. Yep, fantastic.

Another one, start thinking. And here's why. Thinking is one of the rarest things in the world. Thinking is hard and very few people think. And that's what Earl Nightingale said is the strangest secret that people don't think. Because like you were saying, 80 % to 90 % of our thoughts are repeats from yesterday. And those thoughts were implanted in us long, long ago. And so it's operating subconsciously. This is like the...

Many of us are thinking the same things we've been thinking since we were kids. Nothing, not much has changed. Right. Related to that, do some writing. How few people in the world write. They're trying to articulate their ideas. Which writing is thinking. Yes. I think we talked about that. Oh, we did. In our podcast on communication, we talked about how writing is thinking and it helps you articulate. Yeah. Reading. Very few people read good, thoughtful classics or...

non -fiction books like get into the great thinkers, the great thinkers, the Russian authors. It's hard. It's tough, right? Tolstoy. So do reading. That right there. You guys think, write, and read. That just sets you apart. You're already in this tiny percentage. So then add goals. They found that only about 3 % of people have goals, written goals, that they're working on. They also found that about 1 .7 % of people are actively trying to become better.

they're improving their lives. So you want to leave the ordinary world? Just get serious about getting better, learning, improving, growing, taking the status quo of your life and being like, hmm, I don't really like that. I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to change. I'm not just going to settle or acquiesce to the status quo or what's normal, what's average, what's mediocre. I'm out of here. And just do that to be of course, extra ordinary.

Rachel Denning (30:07.661)
not extra, not especially ordinary, but extraordinary. And the extra comes first, right? To make your own decisions, to think for yourself, to chase your dreams, just boldly, courageously chase your dreams. And step away from the unthinking herd. I gotta look up who said that, because that was one of my favorite quotes. He's like, just stop following the unthinking herd. He was a famous thinker or philosopher. And...

That's the ordinary. If you're doing what everybody else is doing just because they're doing it, if you're going through the motions, checking the boxes, and you're not, you lack meaning and purpose and fulfillment, consider this your call to adventure. To step away. To break free from what's ordinary.

Oh, here's an idea. Maybe you just stop and take some inventory of your life and say, what seems just kind of humdrum? Am I really living or am I merely existing?

And if there's aspects of your life that seem kind of just like humdrum existence, that's a chance to save.

How could we do this differently? How would I approach this as my best self?

Rachel Denning (31:30.605)
Well, I think it can also be things that irritate us or annoy us or bother us or we get passionate about. Because I think embarking on a hero's journey isn't always about pursuing your dream life or it's not always necessarily viewed as a positive. I'm specifically thinking right now, like one of our family's favorite movies is King Arthur Legend of the Sword, which is all about...

the hero's journey of King Arthur. And it was not something he wanted. He did not want to become the king. He wanted to just live in the ordinary world. He wanted to keep doing what he was doing. But he... Because he figured out how to thrive. He figured out how to make it work. He's like, look, don't mess this up. What I got's working for me. Got a good thing going. Yeah. But...

In a lot of ways it was his anger and his frustration and his just... What's a stronger word to describe how he felt? It was the injustice of what was going on with the people he cared about and that he loved that drove him to embarking on this hero's journey. So sometimes that's also where we need to look. It's not always this...

call to.

Rachel Denning (32:59.373)
going on vacation? Exactly. Right. It's not like a vacation here. We're not calling you to an all -inclusive resort. Right. Sometimes that call to adventure is a call that needs to happen. Because you have a moral obligation to rise. Exactly. And what finally called him out of that is how the people around him were being hurt. The people he cared about and loved, it was costing them so much. It was hurting them so much. He finally was like, I'm here.

have to do this. And you and I can do that same thing. We can say, if I stay in the ordinary world and I just keep going through the motions, checking the boxes, living the status quo, what will this cost my children and grandchildren? What great cost will this have if I just play small? Right. And so sometimes we have to look at those things, those things that are irritating us and annoying us. And why does it bother me?

And what do I need to do about it? What can I do about it? Sometimes it's not even like, what can I do about it? Because sometimes we don't want to do anything about it. Sometimes we just rather, this is part of the refusal of the call. We would rather just not do anything about it. We would rather just remain comfortable. You know, not speak up, not raise our voice, not take action. Just go along and fit in. Like it's so much easier and more comfortable to fit in, to not stir things up, to not.

get anybody riled up, do not buck the system or cause any problems like this. Let's just roll along. But what the problem is, is ultimately it tears us up inside when we know we're settling for less. Well, or at the very least, it keeps us underdeveloped. We remain less than we could be, than if we actually accept the call.

the threshold into the special world, that's what it's called, or the unknown, and then go through the inevitable hero's journey, which includes trials and tests, and it includes the abyss. The ultimate change, transformational point of the hero's journey is the abyss. It's where you, the old you dies and you become a new person. Yes.

Rachel Denning (35:25.165)
But that will not and cannot happen if you don't embark on the hero's journey. And think what is possible if you do. And if all of us, if everybody listening to this and share this episode and share this message with your kids, with your family, with your friends, get it out there. What could happen? What's possible if more of us would leave the ordinary world and start living an extraordinary life? What's the?

I mean, the things you and I have already experienced in our brief 22 years together. And we're just getting started. And there's so much more that's out there and that's possible. So our invitation today, sincere invitation, join us. Join us on your, and it's going to look different for everybody. The Hero's Journey looks totally different for everybody. But you choosing to be the hero of your own story.

and joining us on this adventurous answer to the call, whatever that it looks like for you, to go really live life. It does so much for you and for the people around you and the people in your circle of influence. It's such, I don't know, our experience, it's a much better way to live. It's the only way to really live. Okay, I was just gonna say that. You took my words. I was gonna say, it really is the only way to truly live.

Because if you're not living a hero's journey, it goes back to Donald Miller's book. Like, you should read that book, people. A Million Miles and a Thousand Years. And he, essentially, it was whatever makes a great movie makes a great life story. And if, who would go watch a movie if you're just doing the same thing every day? Who would want to live a life of just doing the same thing every day? Right, but that's the point. That's what many of us do. We live this life of doing the same thing every day.

And just like you wouldn't want to watch a movie like that, you're not truly living unless you are pursuing the hero's journey. Yes. So decide, maybe decide today, right now, in this moment.

Rachel Denning (37:39.661)
what that looks like for you. Spend some time thinking about it, writing about it, and make a decision, and then take action. Do not hesitate more. Don't procrastinate. No more hesitating. No more. Choose something, and probably a lot of you listening have been feeling a calling or a prompting or an inkling of something. Take action. Live boldly. Live deliberately. Leave the ordinary world. Leave mediocrity behind, and chase your own personal greatness. Love you guys. Thanks for listening. Reach upward.