A woman tries to set out on The Hero’s Journey only to find that Joseph Campbell didn’t believe that women take The Hero’s Journey. She must instead embark on The Lady Hero’s Journey.
Crazy World
The Lady lives in a Crazy World. Why would she even want to go on The Hero’s Journey in the first place? She already has a lot to deal with at home. Slaying the Great Dragon of the North does not really seem like her thing. She’s more a Run a Homestead, Raise Her Younger Siblings, and Care for Her Ailing Father kind of Lady. There is already so much she needs to tackle before she has the luxury of answering The Call to Adventure.
Settling on The Call to Adventure
The Lady’s Call to Adventure is not really the one she wanted. Can she even manage to slay the dragon ravaging the countryside? She is pretty Crazy. She knows that if she doesn’t choose to slay this dragon, then they are going to give This Call to some Hero who is only twenty-two, went to a very fancy dragon-slaying school, and whose dad was a famous dragon slayer.
Apologizing
She’s sorry for complaining about her Adventure in the first place. She knows that a lot of Ladies not only deserve The Call, but would love to go on an Adventure. In fact, has Susan been called to slay the dragon? She’d be great at dragon-slaying.
Being Thankful
The Lady is very thankful for her Adventure. She’s very lucky. She can’t wait to slay this dragon. Thank you, thank you so much!
Begging for The Mentor
The Lady is finding it challenging to be a woman with an Adventure, so she seeks out a Mentor. She finds a wizard who knows quite a bit about dragon-slaying, but he insists that he has his own dragons to slay. He can’t help her with her Adventure. He’s pretty surprised she even has The Call to Adventure and suspects it might be some type of Diversity Thing.
Meeting Other Ladies
She meets other Ladies with The Call to Adventure. Some try to help her where they can, but some are threatened by her Adventure. Her Adventure might diminish their own Adventures. Are there even enough dragons for all the Ladies to slay?
Educating of the Allies
and the Bearing of the Emotional Labor
The Lady has made an Ally from among The Heroes. He is very nice and helpful, but he still gets a lot wrong, so she’s doing her best to educate him and be patient. Also, her Ally will not shut up about his ex and he does not seem to understand the basic time management of an Adventure. The Lady Bears this Emotional Labor, while still trying to figure out how she is going to put a lance through a magical creature that spews fire and flies.
Crying a Lot
This is actually really hard, and The Lady just needs to cry right now, OK?
Approaches Several Equally Important Inmost Caves
The Lady finally makes it to The Inmost Cave, but notices there’s several Inmost Caves. The one Inmost Cave should be enough for her, but the others are all equally important. There’s two different dragons in two separate Caves. They are right next to each other, so she could probably find a way to manage both dragons. Plus, the dragons have been ravaging a nearby town and there are a lot of orphaned children running about. Someone should do something about all these orphans!
Multitasking the Ordeal and Feeling Good About It
She must Multitask while she defeats her dragon and completes her Ordeal. She feels great about the choices she made, the dragons she managed to slay, and the select orphans she saved. Seriously, she’s fine, everything is fine. It’s good. She’s sorry, she meant to say, “it’s good.” Very good. Great, even.
Self Care
She will Return Home at some point but first, she is going to have a little “me” time. She did slay two dragons after all.
Returning Home
She Returns Home and everyone is pretty pissed that she left. Who does she think she is? A Hero?