Blog Index
The journal that this archive was targeting has been deleted. Please update your configuration.
Navigation
« Country Mouse Monday: morning is for wandering | Main | Country Mouse Monday: everything i ever wanted »
Wednesday
Apr302014

Thrive: a hero(ine)'s journey 

As a measure of how naive/out-of-it/sweet I was at 16, I offer this: it took a really long time before I understood why everyone else in my Sophomore English class referred to our teacher as Master Bates rather than Mister. What did they know that I didn't? Was he from the UK originally or something? 

"Oooooooooh," I realized months later, blushing, "I get it."

I probably missed the joke because I was indeed naive, and also out-of-it, perpetually between cultures, the edges fuzzy. But it's equally true that I missed it because I was so enthralled by the class itself, in which we read Joseph Campbell, in which we were introduced to the great monomyth: The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The hero's journey was the story I felt I'd always been looking for, the story that explained everything.

Especially since there I was, Ariadne, on page 23, standing at the periphery of the great hero Theseus's journey.

* * * * *

I've written elsewhere about the way my birth name, Ariadne, led to what I think of as a mythological childhood. I spent hours pouring through myths and books and stories looking for signs, wondering at how names make people. Or if they do. 

I couldn't help but think of this while reading Arianna Huffington's new book, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder. In a section called, "Breaking Bad Habits: What we can learn from Minotaurs, Seat Belts and the Stoics," she writes about the gift of our shared name:

I've always been fascinated by the story of Ariadne, Theseus and the Minotaur, not just because Ariadne is my given name but because of the role of the thread in mythology and in our everyday lives. Theseus could be saved and be free to return to Athens only if he entered the labyrinth and slew the Minotaur. All who had gone before him had perished, but Theseus, guided by the thread Ariadne had given him, was able to make his way into the labyrinth and come out of it alive and victorious. Ariadne's thread is our way in and our way out. It connects this world with the other, the outer with the inner, mortality with eternity.

For a long time, I might have had the wrong idea about this thread of mine. Well, not wrong exactly: let's say it was an evolving understanding. It took a long time before I understood that the thread was also mine to use, not just to give away to others, to help them navigate, leaving me with nothing, bereft on Naxos.

In Thrive, Huffington writes about her own sense of the thread. For her, it's her breath that helps her "navigate the labyrinth of daily life and come back to [her] center."

I think my own thread, really, is a kind of primal joy. When I get back to and follow that feeling, then everything is right.

* * * * *

Recently I obsessed a bit over the notion that the hero's journey kind of leaves a lot of us out of the story. I began to crave the heroine's story, and found that I'm not alone -- others have written about this.

But reading Thrive made me pause and reconsider. Whether you agree or don't, whether you dismiss what Huffington says as so many dismissed Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In because her life is so much more privileged than the norm, here's what I think: Thrive is the story of Arianna Huffington's heroine's journey, as Lean In is Sandberg's.

And we really need these stories.

We don't need to be identical to the women who traveled those particular paths. We don't have to particularly like them, either. We just need to read their journeys a little less literally and a whole lot more mythologically.

Thrive offers a thread. Will you take it?

XX

 

SMALL PRINT and GIVE-AWAY!

All opinions, as usual, are entirely my own. As a member of From Left to Write book club, I received a free copy of Thrive. Which I'd already read on my Kindle. And which free copy I now propose to give away at random. To be considered, please leave a (substantive) comment on this blog post with any reactions, comments, ideas it sparked for you. Winner will be randomly selected on Saturday, May 10th, at noon PST.

Please join From Left to Write on May 1 as we discuss Thrive. Club members each write a post inspired by the selection on that day -- making for varied, thought-provoking reading.

 

Reader Comments (2)

You make such a great point Ariane. These are their stories, and we need to hear women speaking about their stories, no matter how "privileged" some people may think it is. I've noticed people particularly shame women for their privilege more than men. Arianna spoke about her upbringing, which is a lot different than her life now, as I imagine Sheryl's was. Whatever the case may be, both women, and their books, have been inspirational to me and have opened up the eyes of potentially millions of women around the globe, to be the best they can be.

May 1, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterBriana

I agree. I learned so much from Sheryl Sandberg even if her life is very different than mine plus she has excellent advice for women starting out in their careers. For me, her book was more about helping me identify my career mistakes. With Thrive I love and believe Huffington's message, but didn't enjoy reading the book - which feels like a chore. I'm not sure why since I enjoy her social media postings.

May 1, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterSavvy Working Gal

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>