Heroine Quest Cycle

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Hero vs heroine quest

My own call to adventure came in the form of a breast cancer diagnosis in 1993. Because "heroine" is the diminuitive form of "hero," I prefer to use the term "hero quest" rather than "heroine quest" to describe my journey.

There's nothing diminuitive about that journey.

Natural cycle

The quest cycle is a natural cycle that occurs with any kind of crisis: divorce, an accident, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job.

Anytime you find yourself in a place where nothing is the way it used to be, where you have to do some deep diving to adapt, you are in a quest cycle.

Transformation - death and rebirth

The quest cycle is about transformation. It's a death and rebirth cycle -- the death of an old you and the rebirth of a new you. There can't be a rebirth without a death. And that can be painful.

Think about your adolescence: now there's one lo-o-o-o-ng quest cycle, searching for a new "adult" self.

And if you're on a hero quest right now, you know how painful that can be.

Life enhancing

The hero quest is more challenging, more dangerous, and ultimately more rewarding than anything you've ever been through before.

As I approach my 20th anniversary as a breast cancer survivor, I can tell you -- without reservation -- that I would never go back to what/who I was before my diagnosis. And I would never wish that anything I've been through -- even the "bad" parts -- had never happened.