Today is January 4 and the Navigate the Chaos question is: "How far would you go to translate your dreams into reality?"
People who navigate the chaos like best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho had to go through one valley after another to translate his dream into reality.
For over three decades he faced one obstacle after another to become a successful writer.
Because he went against his parent’s wishes who wanted him to be a lawyer, they sent him to an asylum where he received electroshock therapy.
Coelho escaped three times between 16 and 20 years of age, and eventually appeased his parents and went to law school, but dropped out to become a hippy traveling through South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he wrote lyrics for Raul Seixas, the Brazilian rock star and other artists.
In 1974, Coelho was arrested for “subversive” activities by the ruling militia (bundled into a car, taken to a secret headquarters, and tortured with electric shock to his genitals).
Upon being released, and looking for some normalcy, he went to work for Polygram record company.
He eventually met his first wife, moved to London in 1977, but Coelho was unhappy and wanted to write, so he went back to Brazil and they divorced. He married twice more before settling down with an old friend, Christina Oiticica.
In 1982, he published his first book, Hell Archives but it failed to make an impact. In 1986, at 39 years of age, Coelho walked the 500 mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain—the turning point in his life.
The following year he wrote The Alchemist, an allegorical novel that tells the story of a young Andalusian shepherd named Santiago in his journey to Egypt, after having a recurring dream of finding treasure there.
The first edition of The Alchemist sold only 900 copies and the publishing house decided not to reprint.
With a lifelong commitment to personal growth, Paulo refused to quit and worked hard to translate his dream of being a writer into reality and found another publishing house.
The Alchemist went on to sell more copies than any other book in Brazilian literary history.
According to Coelho, “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation. One day you will wake up and there won't be any more time to do the things you've always wanted. DO IT NOW."
How far would you go to realize your destiny?