Donald Miller

The heroic transformation begins when the hero takes responsibility for their life and their story. The hero becomes the hero only when they decide to accept the facts of their life and respond with courage.

Victims and villains do not create meaning for themselves or for the world. Heroes and guides do. We build lives of meaning by stating an ambition, by enduring challenges, and by sharing our lives with others.

Viktor Frankl used to say it is not our right to question whether or not life has meaning, rather it is life that questions us. Will you make your life meaningful or will you suffer the existential vacuum?

In stories, characters who try hard things transform. They have to. The person they were is not enough to overcome their challenges. They have to get stronger, humbler, more tender, smarter. They have to change to get over the wall. And in the growing pains that come with transformation, there is an experience of meaning.

What is the essence of heroic energy? A hero wants something in life and is willing to accept challenges in order to transform into the person capable of getting what they want.