Heroes have to hide their Journey sometimes. Classical stories abound with queens who act as the handmaiden and kings who travel in rags to hide until the time is right for them to step into their glory. Hiding is also a time-honored way of eluding monsters and attackers during your Tests and Trials.
You have to remind yourself that hiding your Journey or disguising your heroic self is not only OK, but sometimes required in order to enable you to move through the stages of a Hero’s Journey. So you don’t have a Romulan cloaking device or Jedi mind-tricks… what can you do? How can hiding at times be just what you need to do?
If things are not moving smoothly, ask yourself, “Can I step into the background for a while and let someone else run things? Can I step to the side and watch and listen and learn for a while?”
If you are under assault from naysayers, ask yourself, “How can I be invisible right now?” (Alright, not really invisible, but less visible at least.) How can I go underground?” Think French Resistance in WWII. Think Harriet Tubman.
If you are stuck and can’t think of what to do, ask a trusted ally to describe how they see you and not skimp on the negatives. Ask that ally how you can disguise yourself for a while. Hiding for a while serves two useful purposes: For one, it let’s you keep working with less attention on getting attention, and two, it allows you to widen your perspective of your Journey and you as the Hero on the Journey.
Photo by Alexander Zavala on Unsplash
