Phoenix Challenge: DAY 6

The question for today is describing what movie or book has changed my life. I’m going to go with talking about a book. If I just had to think at the top of my head I would choose ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho. I read this book when I was about eighteen years old after it was recommended by one of the writing blogs I used to read.

Aside from the captivating story I was deeply fascinated by how a writer can write so little but say a lot. Shakespeare was right in saying, ‘brevity is the soul of wit’. The novel is about the challenges a boy faces to get to his destination. It is obviously an extended metaphor about how the challenges in our lives are in preparation to us being able to fulfil our destiny.

There was me, about to finish my A-Levels not sure what I wanted to do with my life, lonely in my dreams and ambitions but Coelho saw me. When I read the lines, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” it had the most profound effect on me. It made me see the world as a friend instead of an enemy.