Refusal of the call

The mythic hero hears the call to adventure, but refuses it, at least at first. They choose the relative peace, comfort, and familiarity of home over the ambitious quest beckoning them out into the world. They decide to play it safe.

The antihero hears the call to peace and refuses it just the same. They choose striving, burnout, and hollowness over the invitation to return home. They decide to play it safe, indulging in the same striving for greatness, the same rumination over the past, the same cheap dopamine hits that protect them from what they don’t want to feel.

The hero can’t bring themself to begin. The antihero can’t bring themself to stop.


Coach, writer, and recovering hustle hero. I help purpose-driven humans do good in the world in dark times - without the burnout.


More Antiheroes' Blog posts


  • Hollywood McMyth

    Hollywood McMyth

    The hero's journey, it turns out, is not as universal as we imagine. It is a Western, individualist story dressed up as one. It is,…


  • The hero’s journey

    The hero’s journey

    Joseph Campbell's 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces argued that many of humanity's most famous stories share a common narrative blueprint that resonates…


  • Burnout for the purpose-driven

    Burnout for the purpose-driven

    The elusive "social impact" has just become another object of our lust and greed. And when we can never quite achieve enough impact, the burnout…