The Hero's Journey (BrooklynJS 2019)

An honest reflection on how the drive to succeed, be seen, break barriers, and "change the world" has come at a real personal cost.
Lessons from my recent path of course correction.
The importance of "putting your own oxygen mask on first."
A critique of our industry and society's glorification of the Hero's Journey.

Transcript

20. founder director public speaker social justice warrior BADASS workaholic party girl coding icon
23. trauma
24. burnout
25. divorce
26. rage
27. fear
29. suicidal
30. “I drove him, drove them all, 
 to be first, be bold, be perfect—be the greatest. 
 What I did not do was drive them 
 to be whole, to be free. ” 
 Casey Gerald
36. “My question at the time was simply: What is wrong with me? Ever wonder that? If so, my final admonition is this: Stop. Drop whatever's in your hand. Leave your basket in the aisle. Retrace your steps out the door. Find the crack. Try to find its source, understand its reason, excuse or not. Try. That is all I knew to do.” 
 Casey Gerald
40. “I don’t want us to have to work twice as hard to have to prove our humanity. I don’t want to die for social change like our ancestors did.”
56. “I realized I wasn’t upholding my end of the sacred bargain: My life is a miracle that cannot be recreated. I can never get these hours, weeks, years back.
 
 Each day should be lived on purpose.” 
 adrienne maree brown
61. founder director public speaker social justice warrior BADASS workaholic party girl coding icon
63. “Small is good, small is all. (The large is a reflection of the small.)” 
 adrienne maree brown
66. where are my motives?
 
 what would I do if no one was watching?
 how do I act out of love for myself?
 does this get me closer to being whole & free?
67. “Nothing is required of me more than being, and creating. Simultaneously being present with who I am, who we are as a species... and creating who we must become, and within that who I must become.” 
 adrienne maree brown
69. “I drove him, drove them all, 
 to be first, be bold, be perfect—be the greatest. 
 What I did not do was drive them 
 to be whole, to be free. ” 
 Casey Gerald
70. “We heal ourselves, 
 and we heal in relationship, 
 and from that place, simultaneously, 
 we create more space for healed communities, healed movements, 
 healed worlds.” 
 adrienne maree brown
71. “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that 
 your very existence is an act of rebellion.” 
 Albert Camus
72. “Transform yourself to transform the world”
 
 Grace Lee Boggs
73. “I have a radio. It picks up only two stations: Life and Death. 
 I turn the death off, now that I know the sound. 
 The diddy bop of death. 
 I sit in silence if I have to.” 
 Casey Gerald
74. “Not trying to get by I’m trying to get free” 
 Mereba
75. @alexqin