Finding your life's purpose through a fiction

Finding one’s life purpose can be easy for some people and hard for others. It is a long journey of ups and downs, trials and failures so that a person finds their own meaning in life. But, what is a life’s purpose?

Remember the question we learned in philosophy “Who am I ? “, this simple yet profound question was asked a long time ago, although the answers differ from one perspective to another and it leads to one point: finding one’s purpose in life.

To make it simple, our purpose is who we are, it is our authentic identity and our true destiny.

Surely, you are asking yourself right now “ How can we find our life’s purpose ?”

Rest assured as we’ll dig deeper through the matter and most importantly with the aid of a magical story written by Paulo Coelho the alchemist.

I read this book many times and you have no idea how much I get more insights and more messages I wasn’t even aware of. It may look like a simple book to read but that simplicity holds a myriad of clues on how to find your purpose in life.

The story begins with a young shepherd boy named Santiago who suddenly wants to follow his heart’s desire by traveling to find the treasure, through his travel’s journey he learns life’s secrets and eventually his purpose.

Like everyone else, Santiago is a normal person, he has work, a family, and enough money to take care of himself; his life is a routine. He reached the point when a recurring dream kept nagging him to look for the treasure and he knew deep down in his heart he wasn’t meant for this kind of life he was living.

“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Having disinterred our dream, having used the power to nurture it and spent many years living with the scars, we suddenly notice that what we always wanted is there, waiting for us, perhaps the next day. Then comes the fourth obstacle: the fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives.” (Alchemist viii)

When we are little children, we have vivid dreams and imaginations, and we know exactly what we want until we grow older everything fades away and becomes forgotten, we become anti-dreamers, mere followers of society living life as it is, reaching the point of meaningless in what we are doing.

Regardless of how crazy it can be, or how outrageous it turns out, it is your heart’s desire that pushes you to follow your purpose .

Taking Santiago as an illustration, he mostly gave up his work as a shepherd, sold his flocks, traveled to an unknown desert, and lived on another continent with a different language and culture . He even got robbed and spent a whole year selling crystals just for the sake of reaching his purpose.

So if your heart tells you it wants something, follow it no matter the consequences.

Don’t be a copy-paste,but rather unique.

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Maktub" (It is written.)” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Believe it or not, your life’s purpose comes back to you every time your life is stagnant, just like Santiago who was living a normal boring life when suddenly he got those repeated dreams; it is written in your life’s journey, it is written to meet specific people, to learn specific lessons, only to serve your own unique purpose.

It’s true we have the free will to choose what we want but our life purpose is the true calling toward our destiny. We are all meant to learn something and use it in this life no matter what it is .“No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“Don't give in to your fears. If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Fear is the ultimate enemy on the road toward our destiny. Personally, I’d like to call it procrastination as it postpones your heart’s desire and eventually shuts off your intuition.

Santiago had those moments of fear during his journey, but he chose to look fear in its eyes and follow his heart rain or shine he promised that he would find his treasure.

Truly, finding life’s purpose can’t be easy sometimes but it is worth it and most importantly it is your unique journey that is written for you.