How to Overcome Depression, Anxiety, and Feeling Stuck—The Path to Authenticity, Meaning, and Living The Life You Were Born For
“We have not even to risk the adventure alone,
for the heroes of all time have gone before us.
The labyrinth is thoroughly known…
we have only to follow the thread of the hero path.”
- Joseph Campbell
I woke up on my 30th birthday hungover again, after another restless night. Every night before bed, I imagined that I had the power to time travel—that I could wake up as my 14-year-old self with all the knowledge I had now. I fantasized about making different choices, rewriting my story, escaping the life I had somehow ended up in.
Which decisions would I change?
Well, investing in Facebook and Spotify early wouldn’t have hurt. But that wasn’t really what I wanted.
I imagined stopping myself from entering the relationships, careers, and commitments that had led me here. In my darkest moments, I even thought about erasing parts of my past entirely. Despite the anguish and conflict I felt at the thought, I dreamed that I would travel to the moment that I met my wife to make sure that I didn’t let the relationship grow. Then another thought would strike me like a gut punch—if I did that, my son would never exist. The conflict tormented me, revealing just how deeply I felt trapped in a life that didn’t align with who I really was.
I wanted it all to end.
That feeling—being stuck in a life that isn’t yours—is something so many of us experience.
Maybe, for you, it’s more subtle. Maybe it’s not a full-blown crisis, but a persistent sense of disconnection—a quiet voice whispering, This isn’t it. Maybe you feel like you’re going through the motions, like you’re playing a secondary role in a story that was written for someone else. Maybe you wake up, go to work, take care of your responsibilities, and repeat the cycle, yet something feels missing.
Deep down, you know there must be more than this.
You’re not alone.
Many of us follow the path that was laid out for us by our parents, our religion, or our society without ever questioning whether it truly aligns with who we are. We made decisions based on a sense of duty, a desire to fit in, and a misguided notion of responsibility. It’s a life without meaning. We exist in the world that we inherited. It is the place we grew up, the place of routine, familiarity, and often, quiet dissatisfaction, despair, anxiety, and depression.
But what if that pain is actually a message from your truest self?
What if it’s the voice of the real you rebelling against a life that does not allow it to be free?
What if it’s reminding you of who you really are?
Friend, that discomfort is an invitation to step into something bigger—an opportunity to take ownership of your life and become the person you were always meant to be.
I can personally say that the decision to accept this invitation changed everything for me. It was the first step toward living a life of peace, joy, contentment, fulfillment, and meaning. It set me on a mission to find out who I truly am and to LIVE THE LIFE I WAS BORN TO LIVE.
Sound a little better than that dull existence I described in the first paragraph? Good. Because it’s available to everyone who answers the call and the map is right in front of you.
Milton Erickson, a renowned therapist, said "Patients are patients because they are out of rapport with their subconscious." Tony Robbins puts it a little more simply saying that, depression happens when the implicit blueprint of your life does not align with the reality you see around you.
The cure?
Find out who you are and what your true blueprint is.
Then, reshape your world to align with your vision and your purpose.
A comprehensive meta-analysis of 99 studies, covering 66,468 participants, found a strong correlation between a sense of purpose and reduced levels of depression and anxiety.
What's more? The path to a life of purpose is thoroughly known and as old as time itself.
It’s called The Hero Path and, if we follow it, we can become the hero of our own story and the master of our own lives.
Let’s take a look at what this Hero Path is and how it can connect us not only to our truest selves but to every human being that has ever lived.
The Hero’s Journey, the Universal Myth, and a Cure For Depression, Anxiety, and Discontent
Joseph Campbell spent his life studying the world’s myths, uncovering a profound truth: the stories of heroes across cultures and time periods follow a nearly identical structure. He called this pattern The Hero’s Journey.
Myth is not just entertainment—it is a projection of our inner human experiences played out in the stories we tell. The struggles of mythical heroes reflect our internal struggles as humans. Their triumphs mirror the universal process of personal transformation. That dragon the brave knight is always fighting? It’s really just our own Ego—the us we think we are. And the dark forest? It represents the fear of stepping beyond the familiar and into the unknown.
Why does this matter?
Because Myth is the expression of the hopes, fears, and struggles of all humanity and that’s why stories from vastly different cultures and times share common themes—the journey toward self-discovery and wholeness is a universal human experience.
It is quite literally the wisdom of all of humanity being passed down to us through time to show us the path toward a life worth living.
By walking this path consciously, we can uncover our most authentic selves and begin living a life of meaning, fulfillment, and adventure. The Hero’s Journey is not just a storytelling device—it is a map for personal transformation.
This blog series will guide you through that map, one step at a time. In the coming weeks, we will explore the key psychological concepts embedded in the Hero’s Journey:
how we project aspects of ourselves onto others (Projections),
how we structure lives that are incongruent with wholeness (Refusal of the Return),
and how to take the final step toward mastery by accepting the responsibility of leadership (The Master of Two Worlds).
Each post will take us deeper into this journey, revealing how to integrate these lessons and step fully into our own story.
So, if you’ve ever felt lost or disconnected from yourself, know this—you are exactly where you need to be—this is where the adventure begins and here’s what you can expect along the way.
The Call to Adventure: Recognizing the Signs That Your Journey Is About to Begin
The Hero's Journey Spiral © 2019 by Thea Cooke is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.
Every hero in every story that’s actually worth telling experiences a moment that changes everything. R2D2 showing Luke Skywalker the hologram of Princess Leia on Tatooine, Frodo inheriting the Ring, Arthur pulling the sword from the stone... Campbell calls this experience the “The Call to Adventure”. It’s the moment when the hero is invited to step beyond the familiar and into the unknown.
In real life, these calls often come in subtle forms:
- A deep sense of dissatisfaction that won’t go away
- Fantasizing about the mistakes you’ve made that created your present experience
- A major life event that shakes you up (breakup, birth of a child, job loss, the death of a loved one)
- An inner longing for something different, even if you can’t quite name it
Many people ignore this call… at first. They convince themselves that they should be happy with life as it is. They tell themselves that it’s easier to stay in their situation than to risk failure or discomfort. So they turn away from their journey, opting for the safety of the familiar. They reject the work that it will take to truly become someone new.
But ignoring the call doesn’t make it disappear. It lingers, quietly reminding you that the life you’re living isn’t the one you were meant for. Often in myth, refusing the call leads to greater pain that forces us to pay attention—think of Jonah refusing to go to Nineveh only to be swallowed by a whale!
The Masks We Wear: The Invisible Ways We Hold Ourselves Back
One of the greatest obstacles to answering the Call to Adventure are the masks we wear to fit into society—the version of ourselves that is acceptable, successful, and non-threatening.
It’s not that these masks are inherently bad. In fact, they serve an important function in helping us navigate the world. But problems arise when we begin to believe that we are the masks and forget who we truly are beneath them.
We start defining ourselves by external expectations rather than internal truths:
- The Corporate Professional who prioritizes work and status over passion
- The Reliable Friend who never sets boundaries for fear of disappointing others
- The Tough Guy who suppresses his emotions to appear strong
- The Good Little Boy who never even so much as thinks an untoward thought
Over time, these roles become prisons. We lose sight of who we really are beneath the layers of expectation and conditioning.
In fact, the Hero’s Journey can really be thought of as the process of removing everything that is not us—everything that we thought we needed to be in order to be loved and accepted.
No great story is written about a character who stays comfortable, though. It is when we remove all of the layers that hide us that we reach the stage Campbell calls “apotheosis” and unveil the treasure of our unique and one-of-a-kind self. When we integrate the gold we find there, we live a transformed life of authenticity.
The Threshold: Choosing to Step into Your Own Story
After hearing the Call to Adventure, every hero must make a choice: stay in the Ordinary World or cross the threshold into the unknown.
This is the moment when you decide to:
- Stop living for others and start living for yourself
- Let go of limiting beliefs that no longer serve you
- Vulnerably show your authentic self to those around you despite your fear of rejection
- Step into discomfort, knowing that growth only happens outside the comfort zone
I’m not exaggerating, this stage can be quite terrifying. In the article about the Shadow System, we’ll dive into the ways we actually believe that our biological safety depends on continuing to pretend to be something we are not. We literally believe we might die if we embrace who we genuinely are. And that’s why so many people turn back. They tell themselves they’re not ready, that they need more time, that they need more certainty.
But the truth is, no one ever feels ready. You become ready by answering the call and taking action. Gold is not purified without the fire. The boy does not become a man without the rite of passage. The transformation into someone new is a result of the work we do, not in spite of it.
The Road of Trials: Transformation Through Challenge
Here’s the part most people don’t want to hear: The journey isn’t easy. It’s full of challenges, setbacks, and moments of doubt. But these trials are not roadblocks—they are the path itself.
In myths, the hero must battle monsters, endure hardships, and prove their strength.
In life, we face:
- The fear of failure
- The pain of letting go of old identities
- The vulnerability of not being accepted for who we really are
- The challenge of stepping into something unknown
But these trials are what transform us. They strip away everything false and bring us closer to who we truly are.
Every challenge you overcome is a step toward authenticity. Every time you choose truth over comfort, you reclaim more of yourself. And you don’t have to do it alone.
I opened this post with a quote from Campbell in which he said that we are accompanied by “the Heroes from all of time”. The path is known. The dangers that lurk in the darkness? I’m going to explain those to you in the coming weeks. You are not alone. You are one person in a lineage of those who have taken up the mantle and walked the path.
We’re in this together.
The Return: Owning Your Story & Stepping into Your Power
In the final stage of the Hero’s Journey, the hero returns to their world transformed. They are no longer the same person who left. They have faced themselves, embraced their truth, and stepped into their power. They are the “master of two worlds”—the world they’ve always known and the inner world in which they have learned at a fundamental level that they are lovable and acceptable for exactly who and what they are.
For you, this might mean:
- No longer seeking external validation
- Living in alignment with your values
- Pursuing a path that feels true, rather than one that feels safe
- An internal sense of peace that comes from knowing that even your greatest hardships are there to reveal your greatest joy.
And the most beautiful part? When you embrace your story fully, you inspire others to do the same. As a master of two realms, you cannot help but to offer assistance to those who are beginning to walk the path themselves.
Campbell calls this “bringing back the boon.”
This is the moment where, after his long journey and series of trials, Prometheus brings back the fire he stole from the gods on the peak of Mt. Olympus and shares his prize with humanity for all to benefit from his labors.
You, too, will steal your fire. You, too, will make your impact. You, too, will no longer feel that sense of longing and meaninglessness. We all want to contribute something to the world, and should you answer your call and remain steadfast, I promise you that you will find your place among the ranks of “the heroes from all of time” and live the life that you desire.
You already have everything you need to succeed.
You just have to take the leap.
Your Call to Adventure: What Happens Next?
So here’s the question: Where are you in your Hero’s Journey?
- Are you still stuck in the Ordinary World?
- Are you ignoring your Call to Adventure?
- Are you facing resistance, unsure whether to take the leap?
Wherever you are, know this:
You are the hero of your own story.
No one else can walk this path for you.
But you don’t have to do it alone.
I neglected to mention a major milestone in the beginning of the Hero’s Journey is “Meeting the Mentor”—someone who’s been there before and knows how to navigate the terrain. Frodo had Gandalf, Luke had Obi Wan, Arthur had Merlin. And you?
That’s where I come in.
If you’re ready to step into your story, to strip away the masks, and to embrace the life you were meant to live, book a call with me. I’ve been where you are now and I can help you navigate the road ahead.
You’ve heard the call… but before you can step forward, you must recognize the masks you wear that hold you back. Read the next article next week: The Masks We Wear: Why You Feel Like You Don’t Belong & How to Reclaim Your Authenticity
