Keep Going

Change Your Life

“But his heart spoke of other things. With pride, it told the story of a shepherd who had left his flock to follow a dream he had on two different occasions.” (Coelho 149) In The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho describes the story of Santiago, a young shepherd who learns to listen to his heart to help him find his destiny. Santiago leaves his home in Andalusia on what seems like a wild goose chase, because of a recurring dream he had about treasure under the great pyramids. He meets many people on his travels including a mentor and the love of his life. He fought on through his many challenges and never stopped to reach his destiny. Resilience, confidence and bravery are the traits that were needed for Santiago to finish the quest for his destiny.

To fulfil his destiny, Santiago had to overcome obstacles and be resilient. Numerous times in his quest, Santiago was robbed of all the money that he owns, but he always continued on his journey. The first time was when he arrived in Africa, a sly thief took his money telling him that he was going to buy him a camel to help him cross the desert but ran off. Afterwards, Santiago worked in a store with a crystal merchant to get enough money to after return to Andalusia, but changed his mind and continued on the path to his destiny. He also got his money stolen by a tribe and some thugs who beat him and then left him without anything. Both these times he got his money back with help from The Alchemist and continued on his quest. He had to remain hopeful and determined to continue on his quest every time he lost his money. Santiago also had to face the challenge of leaving his one true love behind. When he first saw Fatima, he witnessed love at first sight. His heart knew that she was part of his destiny the second it saw her. It craved to stay with Fatima but Santiago needed to complete his quest. With some help from The Alchemist, Santiago was finally able to continue on the way to his destiny even if it caused his heart great pain to leave her, even for a little while. He also had to fight on through the treacherous environments that he had to cross to complete his journey. Coelho describes the desert as: “There were dunes, rocks, and plants that insisted on living where survival seemed impossible.”(137) This quote helps you visualize the desert, telling you how it is almost inhabitable. The desert is home to powerful winds which cause sand storms and many tribes live there as well. Santiago was once captured by a tribe and was put in a life or death situation to escape. He also saw an omen about a tribe attacking an oasis and everyone in the oasis including him and Fatima would have had their lives at risk. Every time it was dangerous in the desert, Santiago fought through different hurdles to continue to his objective. To complete his destiny, Santiago had to cross challenges and also had to stay optimistic.

It’s near impossible to do much without confidence and Santiago needed it just as much as anyone else. Once Santiago had had the dream about the treasure, he met a man named Melchizedek who encouraged him to pursue his quest. Afterwards, he was confident enough to give his whole flock of sheep away. Because of a dream, most people wouldn’t give up on their previous life but Santiago believed in himself enough to be able to. A man at the end of the book told Santiago how he hadn’t followed his destiny because he didn’t believe that what he saw in the dream was real. This shows how an average person wouldn’t be confident enough to follow their destiny but Santiago was. Santiago received two stones called Urim and Thummim from Melchizedek, which help people read omens and answer questions. Santiago was confident that he could make the right choices and this quote describes that: “The boy put the stones in his pouch. From then on, he would make his own decisions.”(29) This shows how confident Santiago is because he believes in his own judgment and not in 2 magical stones. He could have used Urim and Thummim but he rather followed his intuition. Santiago discovered that he could read omens without the stones and was therefore chosen as a councillor for an oasis. Later, after Santiago had gotten robbed the first time, he went to work in a crystal store for money. He suggested a crystal display outside of the store to attract more customers but the shop owner had too many fears to have it put up straight away. Santiago remained confident that the display would work and eventually it was put up. The display brought in many more customers which earned the store a lot more money. If Santiago hadn’t thought of and persuaded the merchant to make the display, he would have had to work for a lot longer which would have hindered his progression to his goal and during that time he may have lost hope in finding his destiny. Confidence was a key trait of Santiago that helped him reach his destiny but he also had to be able to be able to overcome his fears.

Santiago had to be strong and brave to face all the challenges in his way. Santiago knew that the desert was dangerous, especially now since there was going to be a war between tribes, but he overcame his fears to cross it. A few people always die when they try to cross the desert in a caravan and Santiago knew that. He faced that fear to continue on the way to his destiny across a sometimes deadly environment. Santiago couldn’t have reached the pyramids any other way and it took enormous amounts of courage to risk his life to find a treasure that might not have been real. Once Santiago reached an oasis, he saw an omen about a tribe attacking the oasis. He decided to go talk to the leaders of the oasis. After talking to the tribal elders about his omens, Santiago reflected on what had happened: ‘He had succeeded in reaching through to the Soul of the World, and now the price for having done so might be his life.’ (Coelho 103) Santiago told them about his vision and the elders told him that he would die if he was wrong. He had to be courageous to be able to talk to the elders and to be able to continue his quest afterwards as well since. Santiago had to be daring to even start his quest in the first place. He knew that he would have to cross a sea, and although he wasn’t sure what came afterwards, he knew it wouldn’t be easy. He left his life and he recognized that he couldn’t come back with nothing. Of course Santiago received some help from different people along his way, but he still needed to be brave in his heart.

Following his heart was what lead Santiago to his destiny. Resilience let him cross every obstacle, confidence made him able to believe in his own actions and himself, and bravery meant that he could overcome the fears that he had along the pursuit of his destiny. He transformed from a simple shepherd boy, into a powerful alchemist and councillor of an oasis. Achieving his destiny gave Santiago a goal in life and when it was finally achieved, he could live life without any regrets. He became a different person along the way to his destiny and found everything he could have wished for. His journey showed everyone that finding your destiny will change your life for the better, and it certainly changed his.

Long Path By Aiae

Qualities build up someone's personality and some traits are more important than others. A trait that will come to help me in achieving my destiny is persistence. I want to grow up to be an athlete, and as one I would need to overcome all the obstacles that are put in my way. I might and most likely would get injuries and have to fight my way to becoming fit again. I would need to practice a lot and improve my overall fitness as well as my skills for a long time and not give it up. If I couldn't become an athlete or later change my mind on what I want to be, I would still need to be persistent. At work people always have good days and bad days, and I would have to keep working through hard times which I can do because I am persistent. Also I would have to start out low in a job and work my way up to a higher rank through whatever troubles come my way. Perseverance is an obvious trait that will help anyone that possesses it to achieve their destiny. It makes it possible to move through hard times and to keep going along the path to your destiny.