Ep. 086 | The Best is Yet to Come: Rediscovering an Ancient Compass for a Life of Purpose and Adventure Today

“Not only did this hero's journey resonate with a desire we all have, it felt like it told the story of the life I was actually living. And I think I realized that it wasn't a one-time adventure–that it had the potential to be a pattern or a framework that I could lean into and try to follow over and over again in order to find more meaning, more purpose, and more transformation in my life. In many ways it was what I was missing back in Virginia. I realized it was offering me a pathway, almost like guideposts on the journey that could deliver the things I wanted more of in life, which were meaning and purpose and significance.”  -Jon Ritner   Boredem, confusion, aimlessness, lack of purpose, lack of fulfillment, and a host of other emotional and psychological woes. These are some of the problems that, though they're not entirely new to humanity, seem especially rampant in the affluent Western world today. You might even be able to relate to one or two of them yourself.  When the modern age doesn't offer many useful remedies to these ills, where else can we look? It's time to return to the "old roads," to quote a line from an Andrew Peterson song. It's time to return to wisdom that has been generated over generations and stood the test of time. It's this wisdom that my long-time friend and colleague, Jon Ritner, and I unpack together in this episode through the lenses of our own stories.  It's the wisdom contained in The Hero's Journey, a compass for living derived, surprisingly enough, from humankind's core mythologies.  In this episode, you'll get a crash course in the Hero's Journey and an introduction to how to begin using it in your own life right now to vanquish the dragons of boredom, confusion, aimlessness, lack of purpose, lack of fulfillment, and the laundry list of other besetting woes. As you vanquish those dragons, you'll discover the treasure behind them that you were uniquely meant to find and share with the world. If you're willing, you're in for the adventure of your life.  This episode is also an appetizer for the main course that Jon and I will serve up this October at a special one-day event designed to fully equip you to use the Hero's Journey in your own life.    Introducing Jon Ritner Jon Ritner and I met in college in the early 90s. We were acquaintances then but became close friends in the years immediately following college, when we were roommates, each of us trying to find ourselves and find our way. We ended up on the same church staff together, a chapter in our stories full of highs and lows and lessons hard-won. We've seen each other at our best, and we've seen each other at our worst. Eventually, our paths diverged, and that's the point at which we pick up Jon's story today.  Jon has served as a pastor for 20 years in various capacities in the US and overseas. Today, he's the Chief Strategy Officer for Communitas International, a global non-profit. He also coaches leaders who are starting and shaping communities to live like Jesus, and the author of Positively Irritating, a philosophical and practical guide for faith leaders navigating the changing cultural realities in the western world. Jon and Kristyn, his wife of 22 years, live in Burbank, CA with their teenage son and daughter.    Highlights from This Conversation What The Hero’s Journey is and why it matters in our real-world lives today How The Hero’s Journey framework helped Jon make more sense of his life so far, and how it can do the same for you How The Hero’s Journey helps Jon live a life of more purpose, meaning, and adventure today, and how it can do the same for you