The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho

This book is one of those book where I read it in a slow pace because I want to feel the journey rather just reading a story. The journey itself is not only the travel that Paulo took a long the Road to Santiago but also the journey in finding what he desires in life. I guess that this journey holds a very important place in finding his true passion, and I hope I will too.

Basically, this book is about Paulo's detailed journey across Spain along the legendary road of San Tiago. This road have been traveled since Middle Ages. It's like stepping into the unknown to find something that matters much for him. What fascinates me about the journey is that he didn't know what he would face and what task he should do. Paulo was given some impossible tasks, and he didn't know what to expect nor how it would be done, but he did it anyway. From there, the way to do it will reveal itself. It's like the saying "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear". Everything will come clear if you aren't afraid so much with the unknown and start to do something to get what you desire.

It really is like what happens in daily life, specially in our adulthood. Adulthood is like freedom that is given to us, but it also mean that everything is unknown. We will be lost in this life if we don't know what we want. It's like getting in a taxi without knowing where to go. After we know what we want, the unknown will always haunt us, and that is part of the excitement in the journey. If one thing is sure about life, is death itself. So other than that, everything else is unknown! What can be done is fight the Good Fight. The Good fight is the one that’s fought in the name of our dreams.


I've been thinking much about finding my true passion lately. I'm starting to get an idea, but it's not clearly yet and it's been bugging in my mind for quite some time. I believe that if we really want something, the answer to find it will reveal itself to you. Something that I learned from this lovely journey is that I have to know what I will do if I get what I desire. I never thought of that before and was quite surprised. I never really think of what I will do if I get what I dreamed of, and don't have a clear idea of that (yet). It kinda made me realize, maybe that's why I'm not close to getting what I want. So now, I'm starting to make that a clear idea, and trying to understand what I will do after I get what I dreamed of.

I hope that someday not far from today, I will make a pilgrim journey too. Something that never crossed my mind before, but now became something I considered in my to do list.

By changing the way you do routine things,
you allow a new man to grow inside you.
~Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage