A Groovy Hero’s Journey

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Our friend and fellow blogger Joe at Retire by 40 took a deep dive into “The Hero’s Journey” in his post, Why Fire Is Such a Compelling Story. He likened the hero’s journey to the path to FIRE (Financial Independence/Retire Early). He created a “chain post” and invited us to join in with a Hero’s Journey post of our own.

You may not be aware of the hero’s journey as such, but you most certainly are familiar with it. The hero’s journey follows an archetypal formula used in many novels, plays, and movies. The formula is analyzed and taught to aspiring fiction writers and screenwriters to inspire them to create compelling stories. The stories are not new. They’re as old as Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad, and all of Shakespeare’s tragedies.

So how does the Groovy Journey stack up against the archetypal hero’s journey? Well, that’s a good question. Because when Joe asked us to participate, we were a bit flummoxed. You see, Mr. Groovy and I don’t feel as if we’ve done anything particularly heroic. We’re just a couple of “ham and eggers” who figure things out as we go along. So, we thought and thought about what hero we could compare ourselves to—and then it dawned on us—The Flintstones.

The Flintstones were a couple of ordinary ham and eggers who lived in prehistoric times. Fred Flintstone was a regular working stiff trying to get ahead and do better for his family. The Flintstones lived next door to their best friends, Barney and Betty Rubble.

So now it’s my turn to tell you about my hero, Mr. Groovy, based on the 12-step blueprint from Christopher Vogler’s book, The Writer’s Journey. Here we go.

Step One: The Ordinary World

Normal life before the adventure begins.

Flintstones:

Fred works at the rock quarry for Mr. Slate and lives with his wife, Wilma, and their daughter, Pebbles, in Bedrock. Day after day he pounds rock and waits for the quitting time whistle so that he can yell YABBA-DABBA-DO and go home to his family.

Groovy Journey:

Mr. Groovy works for a sucky municipality picking up dead animals. He’s tired of the routine but doesn’t know how to change his predicament.

Step Two: The Call to Adventure

Something happens to disrupt ordinary life.

Flintstones:

Fred gets sick and tired of pounding rocks day after day, with nothing to show for it. So he concocts one hair-brained scheme after another to get rich.

Groovy Journey:

Mr. Groovy gets his property tax bill for 2003 and is shocked by a 42% increase. He knows something’s got to change in his life.

Step Three: The Refusal

The hero fears the unknown and is reluctant to change.

Flintstones:

Fred refuses to give up on his hair-brained schemes even though they never work and he gets into trouble with his boss, his wife, and others. A perfect example is when Fred pins his hopes on winning big money at the race track. But he gambles his entire paycheck for the week and loses it.

Groovy Journey:

Mr. Groovy refuses to recognize that while Long Island is an expensive place to live, his financial woes are largely the result of his dumb decisions.

Step Four: Meeting a Mentor

Someone helps the hero overcome his fear. He obtains something that will help on the journey.

Flintstones:

Fred meets The Great Gazoo. Gazoo is a little green man from the planet Zetox who was sent to earth as a punishment. His mission is to act as Fred’s servant and make his dreams come true. Invariably, Gazoo makes matters more complicated for Fred. Still he gives Fred hope that a better life lies ahead.

Groovy Journey:

Mrs. Groovy discovers Dave Ramsey on the radio and introduces Mr. Groovy to Dave’s teachings. Mr. Groovy becomes a nightly Dave Ramsey Show listener and begins reading personal finance books and blogs. He tracks household expenses, figures out where he and Mrs. Groovy are hemorrhaging money, begins a savings plan, and becomes more mindful about spending.

Step Five: Crossing the Threshold

The hero leaves the ordinary world and journeys into the special world.

Flintstones:

Gazoo takes Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty into the 25th century to show them the wonders of the space age.

Groovy Journey:

Mr. Groovy convinces Mrs. Groovy that leaving New York would radically change their lives. He devises a three year plan to make their escape from New York to North Carolina. Mr. Groovy begins dreaming about financial independence and thinks just maybe, it’s achievable.

Step Six: Tests, Allies, Enemies

Hero encounters difficulties, helpers, and challenges.

Flintstones:  

After watching a James Bondrock movie, Fred and Barney get themselves tangled up in real life intrigue. They are captured and taken to Doctor Sinister’s island where they meet Madam Yes and the evil Doctor Sinister. They execute the “judo chop chop” maneuver just in time to get out of Doctor Sinister’s vile grip.

Groovy Journey:

Friends and coworkers tell Mr. Groovy he’s crazy to leave New York because he’ll never be able to afford living there again. He tells the nay-sayers he never wants to live in New York again and closes his ears to them.

Step Seven: Approach to the Inner Most Cave

Long journey and preparation for the major challenge in the special world.

Flintstones:

Fred goes back to school to earn his high school diploma.

Groovy Journey:

Mr. Groovy improves his coding and database skills so that he can change careers in North Carolina. He continues to be an exemplary employee with the hope that he might be able to cash out all his built up comp time from his government job.

Step Eight: The Ordeal

Greatest personal challenge. Everything is on the line.

Flintstones:

Fred lands Rock Roll, a big movie star, as the main act for Wilma’s fundraiser show. Rock Roll is booked to perform his gold record, The Bedrock Twitch. Fred is stunned when he learns that Rock became a millionaire from singing and dancing to the song. When Rock becomes ill from eating pickled dodo bird eggs, the show must go on. And it does—with Fred filling in for Rock and lip syncing to his hit song, The Bedrock Twitch. (Contrary to the title of the video snippet below, the song and dance is referred to as The Bedrock Twitch.)

Groovy Journey:

The Groovies make final plans to leave New York and put their condo on the market for sale. Mr. Groovy worries that it may not sell fast—but it does. And he makes a profit of over $250K on the sale.

Step Nine: The Reward

The hero takes possession of the prize and becomes stronger.

Flintstones:

Fred and Barney begin rehearsing for a talent show to be held at the new Bedrock Bowl, where superstar Ann Margrock is scheduled to perform a concert. In a twist of fate, when Ann comes to town she stays with the Flintstones, unrecognized, and babysits Pebbles while the men rehearse. She helps Fred and Barney get on the show.

Groovy Journey:

Mr. Groovy’s government employer strikes a deal with him. Mr. Groovy is allowed to cash out all of his comp time in the form of paychecks that will continue for a year when he moves to North Carolina.

Step Ten: The Road Back

One minor test to drive the story to completion.

Flintstones:

Fred is sick and tired of being picked on at the quarry by his boss, Mr. Slate. He thinks Mr. Slate sips cocktails all day long and doesn’t have to work. Fred wishes he were the boss—and Gazoo grants his wish by making him boss for the day. Fred runs the quarry and finds out what it’s like to be in charge. He realizes that being the boss is not so easy.

Groovy Journey:

After moving to North Carolina Mr. Groovy needs to look for a job where he can put his new database and coding skills to good use.  He hasn’t gone on a job interview in more than 20 years and is a bit nervous.

Step Eleven: The Resurrection

The hero has a final encounter with the danger. This is the climax of the story.

Flintstones:

Fred enters the Indianrockolis 500 race so that he can win money to fund the education of Pebbles, his daughter, and Barney’s son, Bamm Bamm. He enters the race under a false name, Goggles Paesano. Fred performs an amazing feat, riding his race car on the walls of the track. Fred loses the race on a technicality— but he earns $5,000 on a TV commercial for Flintrock Wheels.

Groovy Journey:

Mr. Groovy lines up two job interviews and received offers for both positions. He accepts the better of the two jobs. However, there’s a catch—the company’s Human Resources department takes an extraordinarily long time to finalize a new hire. Mr. Groovy grows frustrated but then finally, he’s given a start date.

Step Twelve: The Return

The hero returns home or continues the journey, bearing some type of treasure or power to change the world.

Flintstones:

A flood at the quarry forces Fred and Barney to take take their families on vacation. They decide to go camping at the “Shangri-La-Dee-Da”. Little do they know that an international boy scout jamboree is taking place there at the same time.  Fred and Barney, who used to be scout masters, become the life of the party and revel in their story-telling. The boys are so taken with them that they later visit the families in Bedrock.

Groovy Journey:

Mr. Groovy enjoys his new job. He gets a promotion and stays with the company for nine years. He prepares for early retirement and begins a blog to document his journey and help others. Life is good.

Final Thoughts

[Mr. Groovy here. Okay, groovy freedomist, I got one more Flintstone video for you. Get a load of this one. Proof positive that everything wasn’t wine and roses for the Baby Boomers. You youngins have no idea how hard it was for children of the 50s and 60s to simply breathe. Nearly every adult smoked and there were no safe-lung zones. Have a great weekend. Peace.]

More FIRE Journeys

Anchor – Joe’s Why FIRE Is Such a Compelling Story.

Link 1 – Tom’s FIRE hero’s journey from being a young finance professional to his encore career, teaching at a university.

Link 2 – Jim’s Why Spiderman’s Path is Like the Journey to FIRE. Jim is going to retire early and move to Panama very soon.

Link 3 – Mr. Tako’s Darth Vader and The Path to FIRE. Apparently, Mr. Tako agrees with my son about Darth Vader.

Link 4 – Lazy Man and Money’s The Serenity of My FIRE Journey. My doppelganger on the East Coast. 🙂

Link 5 – Jason’s Want Your Life to be Movie Worthy? Achieve Financial Freedom! Head over to Winning Personal Finance and read all about it.

What about you? Do you want to join the chain? Check out Joe’s anchor post for instructions at the bottom.