5 Reasons Why You Should Read The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho (Bonus! Book Quotes)

Here are 5 reasons why The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is my all-time favourite book. | Image by: Anthony Tran

The Alchemist is my all-time favourite book. Whenever I feel negative or down, I turn to this book. I remember falling in love with it the first time I read it. Since then, I’ve read this book many times, and each time I’m enlightened with a new positive thought. 

I admire the simplicity of Paulo Coelho’s writing and the story of The Alchemist.

I don’t want to give away the story because it’s best if you read it yourself and experience the whole story from your point of view. But just in case you are wondering, the story is about a young shepherd who sets out, exploring the world in search of treasure, and finally finds it where he never expected.

And isn’t that relatable?

However, this book covers a lot more than just that.

Here are my top 5 reasons to read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

Depression Help: How To Identify Depression And What To Do When You Spot It

How to identify depression and what to do when you spot it.

Hundreds of researches have been done studying about the prevalence of mental illnesses, and how much people in general know about mental illnesses.

The results are not good, by the way.

Researches suggest that today 1 in 4 people suffer from some kind of mental illness. That makes a total percentage of 25% people living with a mental illness.

Studies have also found that people don't know what to do even when they spot depression.

That's just plain sad. Especially because depression, mixed with anxiety is the most common mental illness in the world. You probably know someone who is right now suffering from depression.

The diseases is so stigmatized that people don't really openly talk about it.

It is important that we discuss about it, and acknowledge that mental health is important as well.

It is going to be just a brief post about the symptoms of depression. This is just to enlighten you so that you can spot depression in others, or yourself, and realize when to get help.

Depression is a mental disorder which is characterized by low mood, low energy and lack of interests in activities that were once enjoyed by the person.

It affects how you feel, think and behave. The feeling of well-being is lost.

It is a common but a serious mental disorder, and is contributing to greater portion of suicide rates.

Although a low mood is normal in certain events of life, like loss of loved ones etc, it becomes a problem when it persists and causes disability.

Mental Health Disorders: The Truth About Mental Health and Illnesses

The month of may is celebrated as the Mental Health Month in the United States since the year 1949. It was started by the National Association For Mental Health, now known as Mental Health America.

In the month of may people reach out to each other and talk about mental health, and conduct various activities related to mental health and awareness. Every year the theme of discussion is different. For example, the theme of 2016 was "Life With A Mental Illness" and that of 2017 was "Risky business". 

This year's theme is "Fitness #4Mind4Body". 

They are making an effort this year by sharing information about food, exercises, stress etc, and also there is a Fitness #4Mind4Body challenge, which is pretty cool. More details are available on their website.

Interestingly, Mental Health America was actually established by a psychiatric patient, Clifford W. Beers, whose experience with ill-treatment, personally and on others, made him start a reform movement.

After all, someone can only be empathetic if they've been in the same shoes as the other.

While it's great that we have a month dedicated to mental health awareness, and to reach out and help people with mental illness, the work actually required in support of mental health and awareness is not a month job. It requires long term efforts and commitment.

So, in honour of Mental Health Awareness Month and the efforts of Mental Health America, I'm going to make efforts from my side in enlightening whoever read this, about mental health, why it is important to take care of your mental health, and how you can help someone with mental illness.