There are books that entertain you.

There are books that inform you.

And then… there are books that remember you.

Books that don’t just sit in your hands — they sit in your soul.

For me, that book was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

I still remember the moment I closed it, hands resting quietly on the cover, tears soft behind my eyes, a whisper rising from deep within me:

This is me. This is my journey.

The story is simple on the surface — a shepherd boy named Santiago follows a dream, leaves behind everything familiar, and journeys in search of treasure beneath the Egyptian pyramids.

But that story…

is all of us.

All of us who have left the path others paved for us.

All of us who were once told to “be realistic.”

All of us who have carried silent dreams like sacred maps beneath our ribs.

What moved me most wasn’t the plot — it was the truth inside it.

The way Coelho weaves destiny, love, fear, intuition, and divine timing into a tale so simple it reads like a fable — and yet it cracked something open in me.

Because Santiago’s journey wasn’t about gold.

It was about becoming.

About listening.

About trusting that the language of the world is written in signs.

And that if you dare to follow the ones meant for you,

you will be led not outward… but inward.

I’ve been on my own version of that journey.

There was a time I looked for answers in all the places the world told me to seek.

Certainty. Logic. Status. Validation.

I tried to follow the map they handed me.

But it didn’t lead me home.

Instead, it led me to silence.

To solitude.

To moments where nothing made sense — and yet something deeper whispered,

“Keep going.”

And in those moments, I began to hear my own voice again.

There’s a line in The Alchemist that says,

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

I used to think that meant the world would open doors.

And sometimes it does.

But now I believe the “help” of the Universe isn’t always easy.

Sometimes it’s stripping away everything false.

Sometimes it’s collapsing illusions.

Sometimes it’s breaking your heart open so your truth can finally breathe.

The Universe doesn’t just hand you your treasure.

It shapes you into the one who can hold it.

The most profound scene for me wasn’t when Santiago finds his treasure,

but when he’s sitting quietly, alone, listening to the desert,

learning to speak the language of the Soul.

Because I’ve felt that moment.

I’ve lived it —

on days I sat in stillness, no phone, no noise,

just the wind moving through the trees,

the light dancing on the leaves,

and something ancient inside me whispering truths I couldn’t explain.

It’s in those moments, when the world quiets and the illusions fall away,

that you realize:

The treasure was never out there.

It was always buried within you.

Reading The Alchemist reminded me that this lonely path —

this soul journey that not everyone understands —

is not aimless.

It is sacred.

It is the journey of shedding.

Of softening.

Of choosing to believe even when you don’t yet see.

Like Santiago, many of us have walked miles only to return to where we began,

only to find that what we were looking for had always lived inside us.

But the journey wasn’t in vain.

We had to leave in order to return.

We had to lose ourselves in order to truly find.

I now see that every heartbreak, every detour, every quiet moment of surrender

was a piece of the path.

I don’t resent the time it took.

Because now, when I sit in stillness —

I hear.

Not with ears, but with soul.

Not the noise of the world, but the voice of the Divine.

And it says:

You’re not lost.

You are remembering.

You are becoming.

And your treasure is already yours.

If you’ve ever felt alone in your journey —

if you’re still walking the winding path with no end in sight —

please know:

You are not failing.

You are alchemizing.

You are doing what few have the courage to do:

follow your personal legend,

even when no one else sees the vision but you.

And if you need a guidepost, a hand to hold, a mirror —

let The Alchemist remind you, as it reminded me:

The answers do not live outside of you.

The treasure does not wait at the end.

It waits within.

And all it takes to find it…

is the courage to come home to yourself.