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Chapter 2: The Warrior, The Adventurer, The Artist

Surely you didn't think I would give up that easily, did you?


I struck the bullseye of an EPIC FAILURE! But this is a Heroes Journey after all.. I had only just encountered the first threshold guardian. And I needed be creative if I wanted to wrestle with this groaning beast.

Explorations into my own psyche were showing me just how much of a child I was. I wanted to invoke young Josh into my every day, because young Josh was WAAAYY cooler than me - he had it going Bossa Nova! (Read more: Discovering Life Purpose)


I was on the cusp of adulthood, and I wanted to attain Bossa Super-Nova! So I inquired into why young Josh had all the answers, and ended up knocking on the door to a most mystical house - an eternal abode. We call it 'The Imagination'.


Young Josh was the robed wizard of this house. It was no wonder that he was so free-spirited. I contemplated on it, and realised that this faculty of the mind, 'the imagination', was something I still had at the ripe age of 19. And it was still just as scrumptious and juicy.


The challenges I faced were now pertaining to my own heroes journey, so I knew it would be fruitless to seek externally the wisdom I needed in order to defeat the threshold guardian. So I turned to my imagination.

 Perhaps I could find something that would grant me the strength to face my foe. I sought wisdom in the orchard of my mind, and lush fruits were hanging like baubles on Christmas. These were the fruits of my own story and my own character - and they were plump with juice that nobody else in the world had ever tasted. So I started to pluck them. The wisdom that one discovers for himself is the most potent of all. 

After harvesting the plantation, I had only lined the bottom of my basket. Fresh fruit needed to be toppling over each other if I wanted to defeat my foe and make juice for all. So I went back to my dwelling and plopped the basket on the cellar bench. However, as I was in there, something in the corner of the room flashed my eye. It was some kind of golden trinket, so I went to retrieve it. It was a monocle!

What I discovered was a lense through which to view the world. When I looked through it, the brute physical world around me became vibrant and alive with opportunity, with adventure, and with essence. This was a perspective that I found within my own imagination, and it made life so much more magical. Such is the power of the Imagination! I - Magi - Nation. It is where we can be wizards and magicians!


This monocle was the treasure that was left in my imagination from all the video games I played. (Read more: Understanding my Video Game Self). My favourite element of these video games was the class system. During the process of creating your character, you have autonomy over what class your character is. And whichever class or classes you choose defines your character and determines your unique attributes and capabilities.

So I asked myself, what would be my class in real life? (If you do this exercise for yourself, make sure you are aware that it is BOUNDLESS! Create whatever class you want!)

My 3 classes:


WARRIOR!

ADVENTURER &

ARTIST ~




These 3 classes suited my character best, each aligning with distinct domains of my life. Really, they are reflections of the activities Young Josh poured most of his time and energy into. Warrior was derived from his Kung fu training. Adventurer was derived from his storyline as a boy scout. And Artist was derived from his passion for writing and music.

This monocle was right up my alley. After all, one of my classes is 'Adventurer', which is why I love to sink my teeth into anything that makes my life more adventurous. The very idea of the class system felt so adventurous to me. It gave me a compass to follow - direction if I was ever lost in the mundane. I could sustain my happiness by doing things such as epic hikes up mountains with my flute, and embracing all 3 classes in one swoop.

I was Queenstown bound, and feeling confident in my vision and direction. When I first travelled to Queenstown, I was just a frightened little tyro. But now I had grown into a fully fledged adventurer, equipped with an inventory of treasures. In there was a map, a journal, a monocle and a flute. I was absolutely ready to undertake the next chapter of my Heroes Journey!


Welcome to Chapter 2!!


Hey YOU!!

I just want to step outside of this little story-bubble, give you a huge big hug and a MASSIVE THANK YOU!! It means so much to me that you would actually read my story - at the end of the day, its all just some ramblings on a screen. I basically took the scribbles in my journal and dressed them up in a suit and tie.

To actually make all of this happen though, it was required of me to pull away the curtains and reveal my true character. This has been the greatest challenge I've ever faced - to be 100% honest and open about who I really am, and to share my writing publicly. I can get dramatic sometimes, and try to make some of these stories and ideas sound grand, but the fact remains: I'm just another human being who is addicted to chocolate and struggles to get out of bed in the morning. (Chocolate is the one and only true gold!)


I am sharing my journey here because I LOVE writing! It's been fun to delve into my memories with one hand dancing on the page. But also, I am sharing my story here to encourage and inspire others! There are too many people out there in the world today who are locked in stressful workplaces, taxing relationships, and the prisons of their own wounding emotions and unbidden thoughts. This was never how life was meant to be - all chained up like this. The primary message of all my writing is that you can search within yourself to find the keys to unlock these hefty padlocks. Even better, you can find enough power to BURST free, and shatter those padlocks into a million pieces!


If you enjoyed chapter one, I am so glad. It was a fun introduction to my own Heroes Journey, but we are only just getting started here. This story will go on until my last card is turned!

But I don't want to just ramble on about my own Heroes Journey, I want to hear about yours! As a gift from me for reaching this far into my story, I will reveal the goldmine that I've been mining for sometime. It's a Youtube channel and website called 'Actualized.org'. It has been my number 1 resource for wisdom regarding Self Actualisation, Life Purpose, Spirituality and the Heroes Journey - so if are interested in taking your own journey to the next level, I definitely recommend it! You could be in there mining deep and profound insights about life to Absolute Infinity (no exaggeration).


Well, I guess I'll speak with you again after Chapter 2! I hope you enjoy reading it, because it's my absolute pleasure to write it. See you on the other side! *Hops back into writing bubble*



Your friend,
Joshua St Clair


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