[Stephen Gerringer]

Hello Lollo (love the assonance of that salutation, the feel of the words the way they roll off the tongue),

I’m curious what decisions you may have reached and where your journey has taken you in the last four months.

I, too, experience a similar ambivalence about Austin – an opportunity arose some six years ago to move there. I was one of four people on a team behind a brand new start-up headquartered in Austin. Exciting as the work was, it soon became clear that working long distance wasn’t cutting it; to answer the Call I’d have to uproot my family and move from California to Texas. I visited, very much enjoyed Austin – but the question I had to answer is “when is a Call not a Call?”

Difficult choice, which led to a parting of the way; considering that project is now a multimillion dollar company, might seem a mistake to many, but it was by no means my “passion project” – no burning desire, and many aspects of the job were far from my bliss. I made the choice that was right for me, though not necessarily for someone else in that same position. (Turned out not answering what seemed “the Call” prepared me to answer a more fulfilling Call when it knocked on my door.)

But what drew my attention about your last post above is the following:

Not to mention the fact that I slayed the damn dragon once already with my 5 year journey in american college; isn’t my return to Europe the return home?”

I realize that’s mostly tongue-in-cheek, but I do think it’s worth pointing out for the benefit of other readers that we aren’t issued just one “hero’s journey” with our birth certificate. A number of people seemed to think we take that journey just once in life, which strikes me as misreading of Campbell – so I’ll just leave his words right here:

What I think is that a good life is one hero journey after another. Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem: do I dare? And then if you do dare, the dangers are there, and the help also, and the fulfillment or the fiasco. There’s always the possibility of a fiasco.

But there’s also the possibility of bliss.” (Pathways to Bliss, 133)