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Aalmost everyone knows it the first line of Herman Melville's 1851 masterpiece Moby-Dick: “Call me Ishmael.” Fewer people may remember what follows, which might just be one of the best tips ever given for chasing away a little depression:
Every time I find myself getting gloomy about the mouth; every time it's a wet and rainy November in my soul; every time I find myself stopping involuntarily in front of the coffin warehouses and bringing up the rear of every funeral I encounter… then, I feel it is high time to put to sea as soon as possible.
Melville's narrator was apparently a 19th-century whaler, whose cure for what he called “hypos” was to take to the high seas and forget his troubles. Whaling wasn't exactly relaxing with a cup of hot chocolate and a comfort dog; it was brutal, exhausting and dangerous work (just read the rest of the novel to find out more).
So Ishmael's prescription may seem counterintuitive in today's age of self-care. But perhaps Melville knew something that we have forgotten: when life gets you down, the answer is not more comfort but less. If you're troubled by your own case of hypoglycemia, remedying it can be a daunting challenge.
In 2017, an academic at Murdoch University in Australia propose a provocative hypothesis about why materially well-off humans would nevertheless be attracted to difficult, even dangerous, tasks. The researcher started from the observation that the universe is both life-giving and mortal, and that therefore, from the start, humans had to accept risk in order to flourish. This characteristic, undoubtedly encoded in the genome since then, can manifest itself in human beings as a tendency to adopt risky heroic behaviors and to admire them in their fellow human beings.
This genetic inheritance is reinforced by culture – which is why heroic adventure forms the basis of almost all mythologies. This was Joseph Campbell's famous conclusion in his 1949 study of archetypes: The hero with a thousand faces. Campbell, who was a professor of literature, explains the structure of the “monomyth”. which provides the underlying architecture for a narrative tradition that spans millennia, commonly referred to as “the hero's journey,” such as the Old Testament story of King David and that of George Lucas. Star Wars series.
This ur-myth opens with a call to adventure, proceeds through a series of difficult trials and dangerous obstacles, and ultimately ends in triumph. The psychoanalyst Carl Jung, who, among otherswho popularized the concept of archetypes, understood that for anyone, pursuing a metaphorical form of the hero's journey could be essential to finding satisfaction in life. “Only he who has risked the fight against the dragon and is not defeated by him wins the treasure,” he said. wrote.
Evidence from modern researchers suggests that viewing one's life as this type of quest, even if it is difficult or unwelcome, can lead to positive transformation. In an experiment conducted in 2023, researchers asked participants to reframe their lives as one that followed the stages of the hero's journey. The researchers find that it increased their subjects' sense of purpose; it also gave them more meaning to a difficult task and improved their resilience in the face of problems.
But beyond simply rewriting your life story to make it more of a hero's journey, starting a real one in the form of a challenge or voluntary adventure can provide immediate and significant health benefits. of happiness. Consider a 2013 study find that experienced climbers tend to derive unusual spiritual inspiration, to experience a greater sense of to flowand generally feel happier when they climb mountains. A 2023 meta-analysis of outdoor adventure research showed that participants in these experiences benefited in at least one of four ways: physical and mental balance, personal development, community, immersion and transformation.
A challenging adventure does not have to be physical in nature to provide benefits; it can also be mental. Indeed, learning new things with a spirit of curiosity and exploration has been watch to induce positive moods. This raises an interesting question paradox It shows up in this area of happiness research: people derive much more happiness from high-skilled activities that require learning than from low-skilled activities that don't, and yet we generally settle for the latter. In other words, you'll probably be much happier reading about philosophy or science than if you're just scrolling through social media – so why do you keep scrolling? The obvious answer is that it requires much less learning effort and mental focus – and while the happiness benefits of reading Cicero will likely be greater, they are delayed and seem abstract compared to instant gratification, although largely illusory, of sitting on the sofa. watch videos on your phone.
Just as more physically and mentally demanding adventures spark happiness, the absence of them can be detrimental to well-being. This is a common theme that emerged analysis of the decline in mental health during the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, when people suffered from a lack of external stimuli and new experiences. Those who were most successful during this period tended to be people with an “adventure-based mindset” – who deliberately set out in search of new, interesting and challenging things to see and do.
IIf you find yourself a little “sinister” like Ishmael, you don't necessarily need to risk your life chasing a rabid sperm whale across the world. But you don't have to accept your melancholy either. I can suggest two approaches that you can use immediately to combat your hypos.
The first strategy is to use the hero's journey narrative device to reframe your difficulties. This can be especially powerful if you have recently endured an event or hardship that you are still struggling to recover from. Let's say, for example, you went through a bad breakup that you didn't initiate. It is too easy to view this experience as a humiliating defeat or proof of failure. It's not so if you can instead think of it this way: that your breakup jolted you out of a complacent reverie with unwelcome evidence that you weren't actually in the right relationship.
This awareness is actually your call to adventure, according to Campbell. Now, faced with this truth, you can embark on the second step of your journey: learning to overcome emotional obstacles and becoming stronger through your pain. The biggest step awaits us, when you will emerge triumphant – safer, more emotionally intelligent, more self-aware – ready to love again and be happier, on your own terms.
The second strategy, if your life just seems dull and gray, is to seek out a challenge that is worthwhile, worthwhile, difficult, maybe even scary. If you're a little too comfortable putting time in a job that doesn't inspire you, perhaps you should announce (at least to yourself) your intention to quit and begin a job search. . If the information you carry around in your head has become outdated, it may be time to go back to school in a new field. For a physical challenge, sign up for a half marathon in six months or (my favorite) go walk a few hundred kilometers. If your earthly existence becomes tedious, go in search of metaphysical truths. And if this shocks the people around you who have always thought you were someone without a spiritual bone in your body, so much the better.
Of course, there is no guarantee that whatever adventure you choose will turn out the way you hope. And that's the point. If it were safe, it wouldn't be heroic; if it were predictable, it wouldn't be an adventure. Even if your heroic exploits turn out to be more uncomfortable or painful than expected, that too is part of your journey. The goal is not to win in a conventional way; it’s about waking up and being fully alive. If it's the first time in a while, it should be exciting.
Ohlast point on the adventure you might be looking for: A common mistake is to be not Ishmael but Captain Ahab. Ahab – the doomed captain of the Pequod, the whaler whose crew Ishmael joined – was singularly consumed with the idea of finding and killing Moby Dick, the great white whale. The days leading up to Ahab's fateful encounter with the great whale were a fever dream singularly focused on the object of his obsession. This makes Melville's story an inverted myth: an anti-hero's journey that began with a plan born of hatred and revenge, that led to difficulties from which Ahab learned nothing, and that ended tragically in a way that allowed no return.
Your adventure should have a purpose, yes, but it's not called a hero's journey for nothing. Happiness does not come from a moment of victory, but from the long journey of life, learning and love. It's the best cure for a wet and rainy November in your soul.
