The Great Discontent

Or: The Unhappy Normal

Every great journey begins with the hero in their ordinary world…and something isn’t quite right.

Harry Potter is living with his horrible aunt and uncle and he knows there’s something more out there.

Mulan is a failure at becoming a real lady and honoring her family.

Jon Snow can’t even attend the banquet his father throws for the King and Queen because he’s illegitimate.

This is how nearly every story begins.

Your Great Discontent

Perhaps you, right now, are not content with your current life.

You’re working a job you don’t love (maybe you hate it) and you have dreams of doing something more.

You’re studying for a degree and you know you don’t want to work in this field.

You’re married to the wrong person.

Whatever it is, there’s something in your life that isn’t right. Something about your current situation is less than ideal.

Often, that thing is related to your quest.

Mulan, for example, tried to be someone she wasn’t — the perfect daughter. In order to compensate for her failings, she takes her father’s armor and joins the army under the guise of a man.

Harry Potter decides to leave his miserable, boring home life with his adopted aunt and uncle and attend the Hogwarts boarding school, where he’ll learn to be a wizard and enter the world his parents were never able to show him.

Dorothy is unhappy with her boring life in Kansas and wishes she was somewhere more colorful and vibrant and exotic.

In other words, people begin quests because they want to move away from their pain.

Or rather, they seek something better.

The Call to Adventure

That said, a quest doesn’t always end up being what you think it will be.

A quest to write a book might turn into a career as a writer.

A quest that begins with taking voice lessons might turn into forming a local band or auditioning for a local musical theatre production.

A quest to move away from the pain of being overweight might turn into a blog about body positivity, a book deal, and a sponsorship from Swiftwick and NY Custom Performance, which happened to Mirna Valerio.

I don’t think J.K. Rowling expected to write the best-selling book series of all time.

Mulan definitely didn’t set out to become the hero of China.

And Dorothy learns that there's no place like home.

Quests, projects, and goals have a way of becoming more than you thought they’d be. But don’t let that scare you! It should be exciting, knowing that that action of moving away from your great discontent can create massive change in the world.

Resisting the Call

The decision to move away from whatever is causing you pain can be scary. As humans, we are wired to seek what is familiar, even if it is not comfortable.

Better the devil you know, as they say.

Some resistance is normal. Fear of the unknown — the grown-up version of being afraid of the dark — is normal.

But the rewards of taking the plunge, no matter how scary it is, are worth it.

Why?

Because now you’ve moved away from the pain and stepped into something greater…and oftentimes you’ve solved that original pain point.

Mulan moved away from the pain of failing her family and instead came back as the hero of China, honoring her family.

Mirna started her journey because she was uncomfortable with her body, and now she’s so comfortable with her body and her weight that she embraces it as her unique factor as a runner.

What Would Your Life Be Like If You Didn’t Do This?

Think of it this way: if you stayed where you are, what would your life be like in 5, 10, or 20 years?

Could you stay at a job you hate for 20 years?

That’s a long time. About a quarter of your life expectancy. Approximately half of your working life.

But if you stay with what’s familiar, instead of moving away from the discomfort…

…well, I hate to break it to you, but that’s what your life will be.

Start by asking yourself the following:

• What pain am I in right now? What’s my Great Discontent?
• How is staying in this situation negatively affecting my health, my personal relationships, and my happiness?
• What will my life be like if I never move away from this pain?
• What would my life be like if I do?

Then comes the hardest part: being brave enough to make the choice. To step into the unknown. To befriend to unfamiliar.

To embark on your adventure.

We did it. You can too.