Have you ever realized all of the potential that you as a human have in this crazy ride that we call life? Have you ever thought about how scary it can be to have so many possibilities within your life? Have you ever sat back and dreamed, frightened of the risks and the pain that it would take to achieve your highest of goals? Paulo Coelho demonstrates this through the lives of a baker, a crystal merchant, and a young boy in his book The Alchemist. The lives of people through stages of realizing their person legends. He suggests that people fear darkness and the evil that we see within ourselves and each other, however that it is not darkness that is our biggest fear, it is light and the idea of the amount of potential that we have in the life that we are given.
It begins with a young boy who has moved away from his family to become a shepherd. He moves from place to place with his sheep until he begins dreaming about the Great Pyramids and the treasure that lies within them. He then begins a huge journey to try and reach the pyramids, and along the way he experiences much risk, pain, and joy in order to reach his treasure and “full potential.”
Paulo Coelho shows throughout the book that although you can live your life without pursuing your dreams and your truest potential and still be happy, you will learn and experience much more and achieve greater things by chasing after all of your greatest abilities and biggest dreams. Fear holds us back and risks cause us to conform to things that put us under a blanket of security, but all truly good things come with risk. So, in order to be your best self, you have to be willing to let yourself be vulnerable through life in order to learn. When we see all of the things we are able to achieve in our lives, it is a natural response to sit back and stay within a box of safety. But, it is your job to push yourself past that to accomplish bigger, and greater things. So if you need a book that will inspire you to reach your own potential, read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.