I’ll be honest—it’s hard to find a reason to leave a warm flat in the middle of a Prague winter. But after spending a Saturday with Vice Versa Academy and Carmine Rodi, I realised that sometimes a storytelling workshop is less about “learning a skill” and more about finding a way to navigate your own life. Here is how I finally made it out of my front door.
It is 6 am on a Saturday. I’m told by my alarm’s shrill shriek, which pierces that beautiful moment of time when I—in this bleak winter—experience just a slice of happiness. That happiness is, of course, being unconscious.
The weather is typical of a 21st February morning in Prague: cold, bleak and grey. My duvet is warm, and my dog is curled up next to me. I hear his soft breath painting that land of dreams so gently and vividly; I want to get back inside.
Cut back to 48 hours before, when I get a message from my friend asking me if I’d like to take the Hero’s Journey workshop with Carmine Rodi on Saturday. I was a different person then—a person who saw the opportunity to learn with Vice Versa Academy, a chance to improve my writing, a chance to meet new people, and a chance to get out of my flat (which, this winter, I have almost developed a relationship with that can only be explained as ‘Stockholm syndrome’).
But that was 48 hours ago. Now, I am brushing my teeth, looking at my eyes in the mirror and trying to bridge these two people together, travelling over from Karlín to Holešovice. It’s 8.45 am, and there are runners out. The water’s surface is a bright, metallic grey.
That moment I got out of bed, and brushed my teeth, and got on with my day—that was me overcoming the ‘refusal’. I read that later on a whiteboard map that explained the Hero’s Journey. It wasn’t just about storytelling; it was a way of ‘making the subconscious, conscious’.
We looked into Tarot, which I always thought was silly, but it has such a fascinating history that I now want to research all the literary allusions. Carmine shared so many resources with us—Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, the man who mapped out why every story from Star Wars to ancient myths feels so familiar. We even watched an episode of Love, Death and Robots on Netflix to see how these ancient patterns show up in modern, gritty animation.
As a result of overcoming my refusal on my own little journey, I got more than just a storytelling workshop. I found a map for how to deal with the usual setbacks in life that can feel overwhelming.
I left with skills that can help me create prompts not only when I’m stuck writing, but when I can’t make sense of something. But most importantly, I left with a reminder of how important storytelling is for the human consciousness, and how it is a remedy humans have used for thousands of years to make sense of our own experiences.
Even though it was a cold Saturday, it was a well-spent one, and I’m ever so grateful for attending. I was also grateful to get home and get back into bed to tell my sleeping dog all about it.
If you want to explore this further
If you’re feeling stuck or just want to see what Carmine was talking about, he’s put together some great resources. You can check out his blog post on The Hero’s Journey or his thoughts on using Tarot for reflection.
I’d also highly recommend keeping an eye on Vice Versa Academy for their future workshops—they have a knack for making you glad you actually set your alarm.
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