No more playing small -- own your magic. Your message matters.

Issue #2: Your ROAR for MOAR Hero's Journey Begins

Welcome

On Tuesday, I signed off the paperback version of MOAR! It’s at the printers now.

Last week, I spent several days reviewing the manuscript. I read every page. Every word. There were proud moments, emotional moments and moments of 'urgh, I could have said that better.' And then I had to remind myself: the book is ready.

Two weeks until launch. No more edits. No more tweaks. The book I poured a year of my life into is officially done. It is good enough. It is ready to step into the world.

What a whirlwind month it has been for this Indy publisher. Messy and beautiful and terrifying all at once.

First, the subtitle change. I met with a publisher who looked at my original subtitle – 'Your Hero's Journey to Making Work Magic Inside and Out' – and said, 'It is too clever. Someone who does not know you will not understand what problem you are solving. They probably will not buy it.' I was completely thrown. I loved that subtitle. But she was right. So I changed it to 'How to Play to Win Without Burning Out.' 

At the same time, I found a publicist. Within a week Helen Holyoake had written the press release and lined up a distributor – Blue Weaver – to distribute not only MOAR! but also my first book ROAR! - after seven years, ROAR! will finally be available in bookstores in South Africa.

My experience writing MOAR! was so different to when I wrote ROAR!, for months after ROAR! was published, I could not even look at the book. I just wanted the earth to swallow me. I disappeared for months, not saying a word about it. But MOAR!? I have been through this manuscript twice already and it has not even been published yet. MOAR! has a very different energy. Perhaps because it was written on South African soil? Who knows. I was in a very different place when I wrote ROAR! – still in the early days of my healing journey. Since then, I have come full circle. A few times.

This is what the ROAR for MOAR Hero's Journey looks like in real time. The vulnerability of putting your work into the world. The courage to change course when something is off. The willingness to be seen, even when it terrifies you. The trust that you are exactly where you need to be.

Two weeks till launch. In this month's newsletter you will find out more about the ROAR for MOAR Hero's Journey.

Ready to dive in?

With love and gratitude,

Marilise

Part One: The Call

The hero's journey is inside of you; tear off the veils and open the mystery of yourself.

– Joseph Campbell

The journey begins inside you

Everything you need to design and live the life you truly want already lives inside you. You have infinite potential. You are meant for more, and you are more than enough.

The magic happens when you narrow the gap between your potential and what you believe is possible. The adventure that awaits invites you to reclaim who you have always been and to believe in the magnitude of what is already inside you.

The power paradox

The power paradox is the gap between your potential (which is limitless) and what you believe is possible.

You have infinite potential. But if you believe you are limited, broken or not enough, that gap becomes a chasm you can never cross. Conversely, when you know you are already more than enough, that same infinite potential becomes accessible.

This is why I say, 'You are meant for more, and you are already more than enough.'

Here is what changes everything: you must raise the energy on both sides of the equation.

'Meant for more' is your masculine energy – the driving force. The part of you that sets bold visions, moves mountains and refuses to settle. This is the energy that propels you forward towards bigger and bolder dreams and goals.

'Already more than enough' is your feminine energy – the receiving force. The part of you that intuitively knows your inherent worth. This is the energy that creates inner peace, confidence and self-compassion.

Most people think they must choose: be ambitious OR be content, strive OR rest, achieve OR accept.

But sustainable transformation requires balancing both energies – raising the vibration on both sides simultaneously. Your masculine energy becomes unstoppable when it is not trying to prove your worth – it already knows your worth. Your feminine energy becomes radiant when it is not afraid of wanting more - it trusts in infinite possibility.

Call it woo-woo if you like. This is the energy upgrade that makes your ROAR for MOAR Hero's Journey possible.

Understanding the Hero's Journey

Every great transformation story – from ancient myths to modern films – follows the same pattern: the Hero's Journey.

From Moana and Mulan to Luke Skywalker and Dorothy, these stories unfold through three acts: Departure (leaving the familiar), Initiation (facing challenges and transformation), and Return (coming back with wisdom).

The protagonist starts in an ordinary world, faces a call to something greater, initially resists that call, meets guides who help them prepare, crosses a threshold into unfamiliar territory, faces tests and challenges, confronts their greatest fears, claims new power and returns transformed - bringing gifts that benefit not just themselves but also their wider community.

Sound familiar? It should. It is the structure of epic tales, and a roadmap for your own growth.

Your ROAR for MOAR Hero's Journey has five distinct stages. Notice that the first letters of the first word of each stage together spell out MOAR: Map, Open, Act, Rise and ROAR for MOAR.

ACT 1: Departure

Act 1 is called Departure, and it contains the first two stages of your ROAR for MOAR transformation.

Stage 1: Map your adventure

Step 1: Hold up the mirror and get honest

Step 2: Who do you want to be, what do you want and why?

This stage asks you to get brutally honest about where you are and crystal clear about where you want to go. This is not about setting goals the way you have always done. This is about facing the gap between your external success and internal emptiness. This is about acknowledging that what got you here will not get you there.

Stage 2: Open your life force

Step 3: Own your imagined future as if it were true today

Step 4: Supercharge yourself – Generate a peak state through Mind, Body and Energy

Step 5: Create your inspired and aligned action plan

This is where you supercharge your system to actually pursue what Stage 1 revealed. This is where transformation moves from insight to embodiment. You cannot think your way into a new way of being. You must live your way into a new way of thinking.

Part Two: The Quest

ACT 2: Initiation

Act 2 is called Initiation – facing your greatest challenges and discovering who you truly are.

Stage 3: Act with heart

Step 6: Be courageous – Take massive, messy, imperfect action

Step 7: Keep showing up daily in the moments that matter

Step 8: Measure progress, celebrate it and amplify what is working

This is where theory becomes practice. Where you stop reading about change and start living it. This stage is about taking action even when you are terrified, showing up even when you do not feel ready, and trusting the process even when you cannot see the whole path.

Stage 4: Rise through the fire

Step 9: Continue to do what is hard – Alchemise your old stories

Step 10: Master heart-led action

This is the stage where transformation becomes permanent. Where you face inherited patterns that are making their final stand. Where you choose courage over comfort, again and again, until the new way becomes your natural way.

Part Three: The Return

ACT 3: Return

Act 3 is called Return – coming back transformed with wisdom to share.

Stage 5: ROAR for MOAR

Step 11: Own your story – it is your superpower

Step 12: Share your story – your message matters

This final stage is where you claim your transformation and offer your gifts to others. Where ROAR teaches us to express ourselves authentically using the four-step ROAR process (Recognise, Observe, Assert, Redirect), MOAR shows us how to embody and amplify this authentic expression as we navigate life's greatest challenges and opportunities.

This is what the ROAR for MOAR Hero's Journey offers you: a formula to make work magic inside and out, a way to play to win without burning out.

Your growth matters. Your voice matters. You matter. Not someday. Right now.

No more playing small.

Own your magic.

Your message matters.

In Other News

I had my fair share of hours in front of the camera

I recorded the ROAR for MOAR podcast with Andrea Fraser. Instead of my usual format where I interview a guest, we flipped the script - I was interviewed by Andrea. Listen to it here: https://www.marilise-de-villiers.com/podcasts/roar-for-moar-marilise-de-villiers/episodes/2149160673

I also spent a day at the Moonstone recording studio in Techno Park where I recorded some intro videos (3-4 minutes each) for MOAR! the book. At the end of each chapter of the book you will be able to scan a QR code that will take you to an additional resources page on my website – the videos will be uploaded there. The team is now working relentlessly to get these edited in time for the launch.

For the recording – as you can see in the pictures – I had copies of the MOAR! cover printed. I covered hard copies of ROAR! with these new MOAR! covers to use for rehearsals. It was truly wonderful to see what the book will look like in real life. Holding it in my hands. Seeing the colours. The texture. I had a real moment of wow, I am so proud.

I said yes to being The MiDO Foundation's Ambassador

When I first met Dale Simons in early 2023, I felt overwhelmed by the scale of educational inequality in Jamestown - the dropout rates, the digital literacy gaps, the cyberbullying. Dale is the Founder and CEO of MiDO, and the MiDO Foundation are focused on equipping young people with digital citizenship and cybersecurity skills to thrive in today's world. I remember sitting on my stoep that evening thinking, how could one person make any real difference?

I did not walk away. Instead, I took the smallest possible step: I showed up again. And again. For a whole year, I simply walked alongside Dale, getting to know him, the people of Jamestown and the complex dynamics of the community.

Those tiny steps - which felt almost insignificant at the time - eventually led to my ROAR! masterclass for the Cyber Power Girls programme. One workshop. 150 girls. Not solving every problem, but doing what I could with what I had.

I am so incredibly honoured to serve as The MiDO Foundation's Ambassador. Making a difference rarely begins with a grand plan. It begins with showing up, staying curious and acting with heart.

Heinrich becomes a Matie

My eldest son Heinrich just started Uni at the University of Stellenbosch, studying Investment Management. He is now a Matie, exactly 30 years after his mom first became one. Thirty years. How did this happen? It feels like yesterday.

Watching him step into his new chapter – his own ROAR for MOAR Hero's Journey – fills me with so much pride. If you told me 5 years ago that my son would go to a university in South Africa, I would have dismissed the idea as crazy. Now I cannot think of anything better – seeing my child thriving is priceless. One of the many unexpected gifts of making the courageous decision to return to SA.

This is what playing to win looks like. Making decisions from the heart. Trusting that the life you would love to live is possible. Giving yourself permission to come home, even when it does not make logical sense. Even when people think you are crazy. Even when the path is not clear.

Heinrich, I am so proud of you. Go ROAR for MOAR my boy.

Update on MOAR! 

Launch date: 26 February 2026 (26.02.2026)

Format: Print and e-copy available

Distribution: Available in South African bookstores

Bonus: ROAR! will also be available in South African bookstores for the first time

Join the waiting list to be first to know when the book is available and receive special launch bonuses: https://www.marilise-de-villiers.com/join-the-waitlist-to-get-moar

Catch up on this month's content

If you missed any of this month's content, here is where to find it

ROAR for MOAR Podcast

My conversation with Andrea Fraser about why I wrote MOAR!, the December 2023 burnout moment, and the three steps to start your transformation today. Listen to it here: https://www.marilise-de-villiers.com/podcasts/roar-for-moar-marilise-de-villiers/episodes/2149160673

Where do you focus your energy – on DOing or BEing?

Exploring the tension between the DO more headspace and the BE more heart space, and why where focus goes, energy flows. Read it here: https://www.marilise-de-villiers.com/blog/where-do-you-focus-your-energy

Are you playing to win or playing not to lose? 

The three different ways we show up in life and work, plus the story of changing the book subtitle from clever to clear. Read it here: https://www.marilise-de-villiers.com/blog/are-you-playing-to-win-or-playing-to-lose

Next Month

Next month, you will meet your inner navigation team: Carl Jung's four archetypes for inner mastery: the King/Queen, the Warrior, the Magician, and the Lover.

Until then,

Marilise 💖✨