Alchemist Reflection - Essay Example

Alchemist Reflection Part I. The Alchemist is a short novel written by Paulo Coelho which narrates the pursuit of dreams by a young Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago. The story tells of Santiago’s journey in a quest to follow his dreams to Egypt where he believes there is a treasure waiting for him among the pyramids. Santiago’s quest is instigated by recurrent dreams about a treasure he supposed find in the Egyptian pyramids. The main focus of the book lies in the diversity of individuals that he meets on the way to the Egyptian pyramids and their relevance to his quest.

This paper seeks to highlight an important lesson learnt in the novel and provide a personal reflection with regard to the triumphs and tribulations encountered in a quest to achieve one’s goals in life. The novel has a lot of life’s lessons that are presented by various characters and their attitudes and beliefs with regard to what is important in life. The most significant lesson garnered from the novel is the importance of faith and belief in self. This is because having a strong and unshakable faith or belief in self leads to the unlocking of one’s potential which is negated by self-doubt.

Belief and faith in self is manifested as attitude which influences and determines an individual’s perception and opinions about life and their role in shaping their fortunes. This belief in self and a strong positive attitude is exemplified by Santiago in his quest to fulfil his dreams(Coelho 116). Santiago had strong faith in his destiny which translated to having a positive attitude towards his endeavour to fulfil his dreams. Attitude is a fundamental component of human nature, and its manifestation plays a huge and significant role in people’s lives.

In essence this means that the positivity or negativity of an individual’s attitude plays a significant role in the outcome of one’s endeavours. The novel provides exemplary instances where the roles of belief, faith and attitude in a person’s life are brought out indicating their significance. This is in line with quote ‘when you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it’(Coelho 22).Santiago’s strong belief and positive attitude can be applied in the context of the above quote; in the sense that his actions and experiences exhibit the tenets and implications of the quote above.

In line with the quote, the universe conspires to enable Santiago fulfil his dreams in the sense that he meets people on his journey that help him gain useful insights towards realizing and accomplishing his goals. Santiago’s acquaintances equip him with vital knowledge and experience that enables him to better understand and achieve his goals.Part IIAchieving competence in the field of pharmacy where an individual gains or attains enoughknowledge and experience to be certified as a pharmacist requires a lot of effort, commitment and diligence.

The journey towards becoming a pharmacist is fraught with challenges that can belittle one’s ambition or derail it entirely. This is because pharmacy involves dealing with human life, which involves promoting health, preserving life and eliminating diseases. This requires competence of the highest degree because it is unethical and wrong to gamble with human life by applying incompetent and low quality pharmaceutical services. In line with the novel’s main theme that focuses on strong belief, faith and a positive attitude towards individual goals and ambitions, the same applies to anyone keen on becoming a pharmacist.

Possessing the right attitude towards the pharmacist profession enables someone to embrace sound professional practices.I have taken a long road to pharmacy school. During medical school, I did well during my basic medical science curricula and clinical rotations. I found my clinical rotations and clinical work rewarding experiences because I was fortunate to work with physicians and pharmacists during rounds. Additionally, pharmacists have been a great help to our medical team in contributing their expertise on drug information in order to establish better disease management.

After spending much time with clinical pharmacists, I realize that my true interest and passion for medicine lay with pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacology. I realized that I want to become a pharmacist and learn more about pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and more. Furthermore, the journey towards becoming a pharmacist is fraught with challenges. However, along with a strong belief, faith and positive attitude towards my goals ensure success as a pharmacist is bearable despite the difficulties therein.

Upon graduation, I will have the knowledge to become a competent pharmacist to contribute to the community.In line with the novel’s main theme that focuses on strong belief, faith and a positive attitude towards my goals and ambitions to becoming a pharmacist. Possessing the right attitude towards the pharmacy profession enables me to embrace the professional practices. A good attitude ensures that the path towards success as a pharmacist is bearable despite the challenges therein. Lastly, my future plan is to understand the medical aspects of the human physiology and the pharmacology of drug therapy in order to help the medical community discover new drugs that will be used to treat and cure disease.

Belief and faith in the relevance of an individual’s goals and ambitions creates apsychological environment that is conducive, which enables someone to derive satisfaction and fulfilment in their profession.Work CitedCoelho, P. The Alchemist. New York: HarperCollins. 2009. Print.