Minerva Garcia SWRK 502 02/19/07 Reflective Assignment: #1 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I enjoyed reading about the young boy’s adventures that he encounters on his trip to the great pyramids. I made a countertransference to the young boy’s traveling experience. Just like the boy I had good omens on my side; I traveled with ease in the most dangerous parts of Ecuador, Peru, and Mexico and met friendly strangers.

Whenever I share my story to people who are familiar with the geographical areas that I traveled to; they are surprised to hear that I was never assaulted or robbed. Probably because I was determined to fulfill my personal dream therefore I saw the good in all of my experiences. The story made me ponder about what is my belief system and if I believe in destiny. I am not able to conclude anything definite. I do believe that if one seeks out their personal dream that everything that happens either good or bad is meant to take place because it is taking you towards the path of reaching your dream. Furthermore,

I do believe that if you are on the right path then all good signs are relevant to your dream. I contemplated about my life experiences to further analyze my belief system.

After graduation, I was very afraid of pursuing a graphic design job. Actually I was petrified that I did not have the skills necessary for the graphic design industry. I allowed my fears overwhelm me and I allowed it to undermine my self-esteem. I was like the crystal merchant who dreamt of going to Mecca, but never fulfilled his dream due to fear.

Also like the merchant, I too was scared of change and I opted for a job non related to graphic design, so it would not change my life. Nowadays, I am more like the young boy who is eager and willing to pursue my dream but my fear of the unknown sometimes overcomes me and hinders my performance.

This story relates to social work because everyone has either the self- determination to fulfill their dream or acknowledges the reason why they did not pursue their dream. As social workers, we work in the individuals’ best interest, particularly to help the individual gain self-determination. For example, the Englishman who was seeking the alchemist had the self-determination to finding the emerald; he devoted himself entirely to this cause. Just like the Englishman, social workers’ motivation serves to encourage individuals to become independent and advocate for themselves. Another component that is related to social work is how everyone in the story did some networking to help each other out. An illustration of this is when the young boy meets the crystal merchant, who then introduces him to alchemy and mentions the alchemist who the young boy later meets and helps him to arrive to his destination. This type of networking helped the boy with his journal and further linked his ties within the various communities that he encountered. Overall, I recommend this story because the message it sends is significant and allows for individuals to further analyze their own belief systems.