Hero on a Mission: A Path to a Meaningful Life

The journey, of course, changes them. Still, the hero must participate. They must decide to take the journey. Bilbo leaves the Shire. Ulysses sets sail. Romeo scales the wall into Juliet’s courtyard. At some point in a story, the characters divide, and it becomes obvious who will be the victim, who will be the hero, who will be the villain, and who

Viktor Frankl did not see himself as a victim, I had no excuse. None of us do. We can each reframe our story and structure our lives in such a way that we experience a deep and fulfilling sense of meaning.

Meaning is the same. You accept your own agency. You move your locus of control from outside yourself to inside yourself. You go on intentional adventures, and you get to experience meaning. You have a goal, you overcome challenges, you put another page in the typewriter. You wake up each day and you push the plot forward. The more I lived intentio

The hero must want something that is difficult and perhaps even frightening to achieve. This is the plot of nearly every inspirational story you’ve ever read. A victim, on the other hand, does not move forward or accept challenges. Instead, a victim gives up because they have come to believe they are doomed.

A hero wants something in life and is willing

Why are we so restless? Because ice cream is distracting but not fulfilling. Because alcohol offers a fabricated sense of peace. Because lust is not love. Frankl was right. We distract ourselves with pleasure when we can’t find a sense of meaning.

We distract ourselves with pleasure when we can’t find a sense of meaning.

What separates a villain from a hero is the hero learns from their pain and tries to help others avoid the same pain. The villain, on the other hand, seeks vengeance against the world that hurt them.

Transforming from victim mindset to hero mindset started with a question: Who could I become? Just knowing there was a possibility I could become a writer, that I could accomplish something meaningful, gave me the courage to take a risk and try.