You will not feel ready to go on your Hero’s Journey.

You never will.

Nobody else did either.

Go anyway.

I could stop at that last sentence and the thought would be completed.  Terse.

But, you know that’s not how blog posts work.

The best scene in the book, Wild, by Cheryl Strayed (and done very well in the movie, too) is the donning of the backpack. Being a novice long distance hiker, Cheryl packs everything she thinks she will need, then attempts to get the backpack on while alone in a motel room.  Did she name it “Monster” or “Beast?”  Something like that. I can’t remember exactly.

The physical comedy is good, but what’s the real lesson there is she didn’t need all she tried to carry in order to be prepared. She packed all of that to compensate for feeling unprepared. She wasn’t prepared, but she stepped out anyway.

When she did get a good helper at a rest camp, he tossed a lot of her stuff and even (gasp!) tore apart a book she loved. There’s a good lesson. I’m packing to move across country soon.  I’ve been reviewing all of my possessions with a critical eye.  Do I still need this?  Do I need to carry it with me still?

I’m handing off a lot of stuff, but now I know that this Journey is framed by past ones. In fact, that’s what I’m packing and preparing for — the last Journey like this one.

I have a lot of lists and boxes and helpers and I still don’t think I’m ready.  But I’m going!

Are you, too?

Photo by Andrea Caballero on Unsplash