What happens when you marry someone who becomes rich and famous? Perhaps you find yourself becoming a bit blonder, a bit more stylish, and less, well, you - to fit into his life. I think we’ve all done this to a certain extent. Changed ourselves to fit the needs of someone we wanted to fit with.

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But let’s say this all happens in the public eye. You and this man start a family. And after all this stretching and shifting, tragedy strikes. Nothing can insulate us from that.

And then, he breaks up with you. And quickly takes up with someone new.

That’s what happened to Justine Musk. She’s a writer, speaker and soul-blogger. She is also the ex-wife of tech billionaire and provocateur Elon Musk.

When I interviewed Justine, I was reminded of why I do this podcast. Justine experienced something in the Heroine’s journey called the descent. In crude terms, Justine was kind of a starter wife. She herself has said this in an article she wrote for Marie Claire. But as we’ve seen with our examination of archetypes in fairy tales at the beginning of the season, this one is woefully inadequate. It’s an oversimplification as they do little to reveal the soul of the person.

And the origins of Justine’s story don’t define her. It’s what she chose to do with her story...that does.

And it’s the descent - the darkness in her life that revealed the light of who she is. Which I think...is the truth for all great heroines. As the Sufi mystic Rumi once said, be patient where you sit in the dark, the dawn is coming.

References:
Check out Justine's blog at http://justinemusk.com/

A BIG THANK YOU & SHOUT OUT TO OUR BADASS PATRONS ESPECIALLY: 

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Bianca Wendt, an award-winning art director and graphic designer based in San Francisco and London. Learn more about Bianca and her work here.

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MUSIC:

Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs