Ditch the phone

I gave a lecture yesterday at Cedar's university on Rites of Passage. His African Religions professor had reached out and a film made with my friend Steve Hobbs “Leba” was their required reading. Well that's one sure way to get it seen. And just in case you have a spare 45 minutes https://youtu.be/1BcfiN3xuog

Anyway, after giving the low down on traditional rituals of passage they broke up into groups to design a modern day rite of passage that they might like to undergo.

This is what they came up with:

1. Ditch the phones. No digital devices.

2. Take off into the wild: With one exception they all sent their younger selves on a journey into the wilderness, tackling survival challenges and learning bush skills. One group planned to retrieve an artifact from a mountain top. The artifact was too awkward or heavy to be carried by one person. Another version of that was a drop off in a remote location to then make your way home through the strange wilderness and urban environment.

The one outlier I loved was a foreign city drop off with $300 in your pocket and mission to survive for 2 weeks. Wait, wasn’t that the way I used to travel anyway?!

A rite of passage usually includes a separation (from your home), a liminal space (journey, quest, challenge, learning, mentor) and reintegration (the return celebrated by your community)

What's the rite of passage that would you design for yourself when you face a significant change?