The Right Questions with James Victore

Episode 61: The Journey

• James Victore

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If you are a stuck or frustrated creative and want to get paid to do what you love, let's talk. https://yourworkisagift.com/coaching

What if that knot in your stomach isn’t a warning sign, but the call to adventure you’ve been waiting for?

We unpack the hero’s journey as a living, repeatable map for creative people who feel out of place, “too weird,” or stuck in roles that shrink their voice. Instead of chasing someone else’s path, we look at how early shame steals play, why many of us refuse the call to our own work, and how disruption—job loss, heartbreak, grief—often becomes the doorway to a truer self.

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SPEAKER_00:

This podcast episode I'm calling the journey. And it's actually excerpted from my newest book called Hey Weirdo. And you might want to check out the audiobook and the workbook of Hey Weirdo. It would make a great Christmas gift to yourself or someone else. So it's called the Journey. And if you are listening to this, you are actually on that journey. The journey of the hero, as defined by Joseph Campbell's monomyth from his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. And this journey is a path that recurs again and again in the mythology of the world, even in the reality of the world. I see it often when I look at my proteges or my mentors. And this journey has guided many cultures throughout human history. Think about the the fictionalized version of it, like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, or even the Hunger Games. The early ones, not the new ones, new ones, there's just milk in it. These epic adventures pull at our heartstrings because, because, because, because, because, because, because we recognize ourselves, we see our own heroic nature in these mythical and fictional characters on screen or in text. So in them, we see our own potential for greatness. You know, this leads to this leads to why most people on the planet are frustrated. Because we know what we're capable of. We know our potential. We see it, we feel it, but we took a job instead. So this episode is called The Journey. Q, the canned music. The hero is one who rises from a fearful, self-involved slumber to a fully expressed being who harnesses their weird gifts in order to change the world for better. Essentially, this path of maturation is what all evolving humans follow as they make their way towards self-realization and a truly meaningful, purposeful life. And the cool thing about knowing that we're all going through similar patterns of transformation is that you now have a roadmap to follow. You can see where you are on the journey and feel better about what you're experiencing. And there are even some references about what pitfalls to look for on the way. It's also, it's also just a really great comfort to know that you were not alone. Others have followed this path. Everyone's journey is uniquely tailored to their own brand of weird. There are some markers along the journey that you can expect to encounter. I have noted four of them to make it easier for you. And then along the way I will add some oh let's call it anecdotal information. Okay, here we go. Number one, the departure and call to adventure. Now, the thing about the call to adventure, most people perceive this wrong. Here's the fascinating thing. When most people feel that call, the calling, calling to your purpose, calling to your adventure, calling to your life, we use shitty words. And the words we use is imposter syndrome. We call ourselves impostors. We feel fake. We feel like like like we're not supposed to be there. It's like, it's like I can imagine if you read the the the stories from the Bible, the the hero stories from the Bible, like, you know, Jonah and the whale, Noah and the Ark, that kind of thing. You know, it's like it's like the real story is God says, Noah, build me an ark. And then Noah says, What the fuck? Why me? What what why what are you gonna pick on me for? I don't know how to do that shit. I'm not a big Bible guy, but the stories of the Bible are hilarious. You know, it's like it's like no one just steps up to the call of adventure and says, Let's go. So we often have imposter syndrome about that. So number one, let's go back. The departure and call to adventure. At the beginning, you're weird. As a kid, you don't know anything else except to be weird, and you're comfortable in that. You're comfortable in scratching your butt in public. You have complete freedom of play and imagination, and there is no judgment of good or bad. Everything is just what it is, and the world is a joy to experience. Everything is play. Every mess and mistake you make is an opportunity for laughter or to experience something. But at some stage, someone in authority points out what you are doing and imposes their opinion and their judgment on you. And from this, you accumulate guilt and shame for doing what felt right to you. So you adopt their fears, their limiting beliefs, their patterns and conditioning, which begins the slow loss of self and denial of your weird. Listen, I was in a restaurant the other day, and there was a family nearby, and they had a um a toddler, very young kid, and um he kept knocking the plate off the table. And the parents like got incensed and were like holding their hands down or smacking their hands, and to the kid, that was play. That was an opportunity to see what happens. That was that was frickin' science to him. If I do this, then that happens. Look at that mess, that's beautiful. Now the parents didn't see it that way. They like, we're in a restaurant, you can't do that. Right? So they immediately shut that down. And what they're doing is they're shutting their kid down. And they're they're they're associating a mess with fear to him. Don't do that. Don't do that if you can't if you can't handle being in a restaurant with your toddler, don't go. Yeah, of course I said nothing, because you know, not my monkey, not my zoo or circus. Number two, refusal of the call. Since the fun has been taken out of it, you now identify your weirdness or your play as a curse instead of a gift. Because now it brings unwanted attention to you, and that brings pain. So you push it away as much as possible. You resist your own truth and deny your power. In your heart, it doesn't feel right to refuse the call of your creative weird impulse, but you do it anyway. You know why? Because everyone around you is doing it. And you want to belong. You follow everyone else's rules and their dictates for your life, but nothing feels quite right anymore. And you eventually, or hopefully, at twenty or forty, or sixty, wake up. You get to a point where you question the whole situation. Why am I not happy? Why do I have a shitty job that I hate? Why am I unfulfilled? Why is this so hard? And these are good questions to ask yourself, but you gotta listen to yourself as well. Because you witness others following their weird in their acting, writing, singing, dancing, creating, with such abandon and freedom, sharing their gifts with the world. And inspired, you look up to them in awe, wondering how they're doing it. And maybe you try to copy their weird, but it doesn't ever quite feel like you. You start to wake up to the innate power of your authentic truth and begin to deliberately carve out your own weird path. Often this awakening is instigated through some trauma. The death of a friend, a breakup, loss of a job. Sometimes we really, really, really have to be forced out of the nest. Right? We won't make a move unless we have a real fire under our ass, like we've lost our job. These force a painful shattering of the false self you've adopted. And you emerge raw and vulnerable with a wild new realization. What if I just decided to be me? You begin to care less about what other people think and start to accept who you are. You tap into the gifts of your authentic nature and let go of the boatloads of beliefs that don't hold true to you anymore. It is a radical liberation through self-acceptance. Right now, you're thinking, oh man, I wish James Victory could be my mentor, my guru. Hell, I wish he was my coach. Well, you can make that happen. Go to your workisagift.com. There's a questionnaire that will probably help you out, but it'll also give you access to a free call. So let's talk. Let's free you from overwhelm and creative frustration. Let's build your business and help you get paid to do what you love. Again, go to your workisagift.com. Let's talk. Number four, the return. This is a powerful reclamation of yourself, where you begin to revel in your weird. You take full ownership of your potential and you wield your weirdness like a superpower. Life feels bigger, more electric, and wholly supernatural. We call it super, but it's really more natural. It's going back, back to what made us weird as a kid, back to our true nature, back to our natural, weird self. We allow ourselves, get that, that's a big word. We allow ourselves to be who we really are. This is the level of self-mastery. You become you, fully expressed, living your potential, leading by example, sharing your gifts with the world, and giving others the permission to embrace their own weird magic. How about that? When you set yourself free, you give others around you the permission to do the same. You are now a teacher and a guide by your mere presence. And you help others on their own journeys. I see this all the time. I see either little kids jumping around singing songs down the middle of the aisle in the grocery store, or or or fully grown adults with some wildly crazy scarf, and I'm like, ah, yeah, I get it. I get it. I see them. And they in turn set me free. So that's the journey. More or less, some details left out. You will fill in the blanks. And this journey is as epically weird as you are. And here, fair warning, I know you're saying it already, but James, the common theme you will encounter over and over and over again is failure. You are gonna fail so, so, so damn much. And you know what? That's awesome, because that's the fucking process. Failure is a gift. Failure are the steps. Just think of it like that. Failure are the steps. And the only failure, the only failure is to not take the step. The only failure is to not go. The only failure is to use that word imposter syndrome and not to understand that it is the calling. Failure gets a bad rap. It is not only necessary, it's good for you. So get good at it and shift your perspective around what it means to you. There's a great book that could help you in regard to that, and it's called Feck Perfection. Go see if you can find a copy. Written by this local genius that I know. But the Cliff Notes version of that is that failure is a prime fuel for growth. Failure is a beautiful honing mechanism that refines and sharpens your clarity. And when approached with gentle curiosity, it will lead you into ways of being that serve your expansion and evolution so you can live more fully in your weird power. The weirdo's journey is a lifelong process. It's you're never done. You never just wake up and go, oh, again, I guess I've I guess I've arrived. I don't know anybody at any level in their careers who are done. We're all figuring it out. We're all going to the next level of failure. We're all just moving forward, moving along a path. And where you are doesn't really matter. As much as you're moving forward and holding yourself gently and in love and in acceptance through it all. So good luck, weirdo. And Godspeed. And remember, breathe, stretch, and drink plenty of water. I'm James Victory. I believe in you even when you don't. Adios.