I have chosen a mountain to define my limits. In 1989 (I was just over 40yrs and I had already published The Alchemist and The Pilgrimage in Brasil), I was on my second sacred pilgrimage in the Pyrenees. And I saw a mountain in the distance called Pic du Gez and I said, ‘okay, I have nothing to do today, so I’m going to climb that peak’.
First, it was very difficult to get close to the base – from a distance it looked so easy. When I finally arrived at the bottom, I had about five hours to climb about 2,000m. Not a big deal. So I started climbing, and I got lost. I knew the peak, but I had no water, no food, I had nothing. Eventually, I made it to the top and looked around. It was summer. There was no snow, it was barren.
It looked like the moon and I seriously thought, ‘I don’t know my way back. I can’t take the same route that I took to get here’. I spent nearly four hours climbing and I had no energy for the descent (which is more difficult than the ascent). So I sat down, and my first decision was that I wasn’t going to smoke – I needed to preserve all my energy.
As I looked around, I saw a city in the distance and I said ‘I’m going to that city’.
And again, it seems easy to navigate when you see something like that in the distance. So I started my descent, heading towards the city, but soon after I began I could no longer see the city anymore. I said, ‘my God, I may die here’. And then I thought ‘well, that’s not so bad. I die on a mountain. Winter will come, my body will disappear and I will become a legend’.
Eventually, I made my way to the city, but I couldn’t sleep that night. My body was completely tense. I had gone beyond my limit.
I called my wife Christina the next day and said, ‘yesterday, I was lost in a mountain, I almost died’.
And she said, ‘okay Paulo, great, but don’t call me very often because our telephone bill is getting very high’. And I’m thinking, ‘oh my God, I almost died and here she is talking about my telephone bill because I was always calling collect’ (laughter).
After this experience, I decided that this mountain would tell me when I get old.
So once a year, I return to climb this mountain. One day, I will be unable to climb it and when that day comes, it will be a landmark moment, a turning point, telling me that I can no longer overstretch myself that way and that I need to find something else. I will find something else.
So this mountain is a symbol for me.
{ 150 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
Next Comments →
Sir ! a great story indeed,as i expected,because i have read some books of yours. i’m such a big fan of you.
BEautiful story. Mountains are such a tangible challenge. Climbing a mountain is such a great way to surpass one’s comfort zone and to realize what incredible power we hold within ourselves! Here is a short clip of my mountain, my personal dream and challenge….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApYCYP_bLMc&list=UU6MJzkJ-bkaKp9A36nUb2OA&index=3&feature=plcp
Hello Mister,
I’ve just read your book; in german it’s called “Veronika beschließt zu sterben.”
I, as an actress have never felt anything like that before.
It’s hard to describe, but I felt her pain and her anxiety in a way that it was kind of scary. I mean, I really was in her mood; this whole problem; not knowing what to do: she cannot die, she cannot live.
I’m very thankful for this experience and also impressed of it.
I mean… Firstly, I didn’t want to continue reading the book, since I
felt pretty uncomfortable and inhibited, but it seemed too inviting for me.
I just needed to write this down, even if nobody notices.
Just as the fact, that I can really understand you.
I always wanted to become an actress and in the theatre, I firstly played,
everyone drank coffee the whole day.
So I thought: “Well, If you drink coffee. You are a real actress.”
I’ve always hated coffee and I only started drinking it, because I wanted to be a part of this community of artists.
I thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to share your
life!
Consider yourself hugged.
Melissa
I have a little mountain to climb this year and that is to start and finish my second novel. How do you manage to produce so many great novels. Must be all that mountain climbing.
”The hermit who sits alone on a mountaintop radiating a vibration of peace does more to bring harmony to the world than the angry peace marcher, whose frequency serves only to create more of the very thing against which he rails so vehemently.”
-from Your Soul’s Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born
Robert Schwartz
I absolutely love the comment by your wife! So very pragmatic!
Beautiful story. Thanks for sharing.
Paolo, thank you for sharing your heart with us. When I read your books I feel humbled, inspired, captivated and entertained. You are a blessing to all of us. Much Love to you <3
My spirit is always lifted afterI reading any thing you have written…. Love you Paulo!
and mine too, Shirley. A bit like signposts along the way… thanks xx
Some people become dead legends because they didn’t cherish their health and died early, like Amy Winehouse or Michael Jackson,. People are sorry for the loss of their talent, but are more sorry that they ruined themselves.
Some people become living legends because through their whole lives, they did something that deeply impressed the mankind, like Nelson Mandela or Dalai Lama.
Being a meteor is easier, it’s more difficult to be a shining star for a whole life. Personally I have more respect to the second type of stars.
Love
Yan
This reminds me of the good old saying: what goes up must come down. However, I interpret something else. When you reach the top, don’t forget to look down, and do practice coming down. You can always go back up when you want. And when you cannot reach the peak anymore it will be easier to adjust to the new level.
Belle histoire, où l’on se retrouve en face de sa propre volonté de continuer ou de rebrousser chemin. Jusqu’où la résistance humaine peut-elle aller? Certainement très très loin, si la volonté est présente, ou plus loin encore si c’est l’Amour qui nous porte. La montagne et l’Océan, sont des milieux où les plus grands exploits sportifs humains ont été réalisés.
Votre propre montagne, plutôt que celle que l’on gravit par amour de la performance, est aussi, celle de votre pélerinage spirituel, aussi je crois que même quand vos jambes ne vous porteront plus (ce qui sera probablement très tardif compte tenu de votre forme physique actuelle), vous la gravirez encore mentalement, chaque année. Et vous l’aurez fait tellement de fois, que vous pourrez imaginer, chacun de vos pas, et chacune des pierres du chemin, chaque arbre, et chaque étape de cette route, jusqu’au sommet, qui une fois atteint, vous permettra de porter de nouveau votre regard sur l’ensemble du paysage, que vous connaissiez depuis toujours. Le force mentale qui nous habite est plus forte que toutes les déchéances physiques, et c’est avec elle que nous nous envolons. Bonne journée dans la montagne eneigée. M Christine G.
Great story, where we find ourselves in front of his own will to continue or turn back. How far the human resistance can it go? certainly very far, if the will is present, or even further if it is love that leads us. The mountains and the ocean, are environments where the greatest sporting achievements have been made human.
Your own mountain, rather than the one we climbed for the sake of performance, is also that of your spiritual pilgrimage, so I think even when your legs will do more (which will probably be very late because of your current fitness level), you mentally worse every year. And you have done so many times that you can imagine, every step, and each of the stones of the road, every tree and every stage of this road to the summit, which once reached, you will reuse your gaze across the landscape, you knew from the beginning. The mental strength within us is stronger than any physical decline, and with it we are gone. Good day in the snowy mountains . . M Christine G.
Belle analyse comme d’habitude Marie-Christine ! Je prends fiévreusement des notes que j’espère intégrer un jour dans une de mes histoires. Merci. :)
I have been working my way towards a peak for a very long time, and was feeling very lost. Thank you for reminding me that there is still a mountain there.
Amen…..
Beautiful story Sir.
By the way you describe your ascent it seems that what you did was trekking,
not climbing, as climbing requires especial equipment. The thing about radical sports (I love diving , for instance) is that you must always access and assume the risks involved. Of course many times we fail to do so and learn a lesson the hard way…
thank you once again… beautifully inspirational…
Winter will come, my body will disappear and I will become a legend’. A Line Deeper than Ocean’s Bottom!! Love You Paulo! May God Bless you Long Life.
Visitar a montanha todo ano é de um simbolismo grande….vc é bem resistente
I think I’m in Love with you! Nooo I don’t think, I’m sure that I’m in Love with you; you know what?! I’m deeply in love with you!!!!
but I love your wife too, she must be an exceptional woman, to LOVE & TO BE LOVED SIMPLY BY YOU!
Paulo, adorei esse texto. But I would end it by saying that getting old is only relative to that specific mountain. If you change your symbol, it might make you then relatively younger or maybe even older. A perspective of how life has cycles and how all is relative, and that we must be balanced in order to recognize what is best for us to take into our lives. We are the masters of our own show, and we must be humble in perceiving ourselves, but at the same time, optimistic and brave.
i got another motivated point having read your blog of mountain thanx Paulo :)
Great story as always!
Thank you for always giving me cause to think in new ways! God Bless you always!
Dear coelho
Old or not old you will always paid your phone bill !!!
Wonderful. Sir i am a fan of yours.. i have read the Alchemist more than 50 times… m not exaggerating but i am in love with your writing. every time i read any of ur book, i learn alot…. i learned a huge bundle of lessons from ur book Alchemist… taught a perspective towards life… so did ur book Zahir and eleven minutes…
Keep writing good books…
Wonderful. Sir i am a fan of yours.. i have read the Alchemist more than 50 times… m not exaggerating but i am in love with your writing. every time i read any of ur book, i learn alot…. i learned a huge bundle of lessons from ur book Alchemist… taught a perspective towards life… so did ur book Zahir and eleven minutes…
Keep writing good books…
Thanks for formulation of this idea. The mountain will tell me when I am old this is exactly what im feeling. And of course many thanks for your thoughts about pirates a good idea doesn’t need protection.
many thanks from Czech
PH.
Saudações nobre exelenticimo.
Vim por através destes a lhe dizer o quanto
me indêntifico com tal istória.
Come to North Wales and climb Cader Idris – you will be able to do this even when you are old and it’s worth it too! Still be prepared though!
Paulo, I am a writer, lost and trying to find my way. Thank you for giving me inspiration on those days that I find it hard to reach for it within myself. I am yet to reach the top of my mountain, and the climb is like one i have never experienced before.
Es un placer para mi poder entrar en su pagina, jamas me lo hubiera imaginado. He tenido el gusto de leer sus libros, pero dejeme decirle que el Peregrino me encanto me hizo viajar por cada lugar y ver cada paisaje, aun en veces despierto asustada por el encuentro que tuvo con el perro, no se porque siento que mi vida esta ligada a ese recuerdo-a un antes de haber leido ese capitulo esa vision ya estaba en mi mente- Me siento realmente en otra epoca al estar leyendo cada parte de la historia, soy buena leyendo, pero siento que este libro me hace sentir que estoy en el lugar adecuado y en el mejor momento. Al hacer el ejercicio de la semilla fue realmente como volver a nacer, cada vez que siento que algo anda mal en mi vida,-no es muy seguido, gracias a Dios tengo una vida muy tranquila y ordenada- practico ese ejercicio y creame que me ayuda haber las cosas de la manera mas claras y sencillas. Siga haciendo lo que sabe, y gracias por tan fantasticos paisajes y la manera que tiene de hacernos verlos a travez de sus relatos que nos cuenta a travez de sus libros…………..Miny
hi dear paolo , i live in iran in ahwaz city i love you and i have most of your books , thank you so much , thank you for your note .
Até há uns anos atrás, eu sofria de vertigens! Numa altura em que eu “perdi” tudo que tinha por adquirido, casamento, trabalho e casa, optei por tirar um tempo só para mim. Comecei a fazer escalada de forma a combater essa minha fobia! Quando me apercebi, desapareceu o medo das alturas, como tinha curado as minhas perdas. Impressionante quando uma só ação pode mudar por inteiro a nossa vida! Hoje em dia para além das escaladas, faço caminhadas, e este ano em Abril vou fazer o caminho de Santiago a pé! Não digo que deixei de ter medo, tenho sim, mas ele impele-me a andar e a não estagnar, o que acontecia anteriormente.
Namaste Paulo por muitas vezes caminhar a meu lado.
gr88888……………
In our (still) patriarchal world it is very common to think that men are rational while women are emotional (driven by the feelings, not being able to think logically). The reality, as always it is with stereotypes, is not simple/black-and-white. The wife’s answer is simply showing the tights to reality and everyday life. For me it is a representation of the peace and harmony that lies in the place called “HOME”, that exists and awaits you even if you feel that you’ve almost died.
Beautiful, I adore this comment!
Wonderful comment! I call, HOME, Divine Grace and Guidance….the place that receives us always with and open “heart”!
very nice story, i love your books have full collection of them ,
Paulo when you fill or when that moment will come call me i will give you one nice room in nice old house on country side with nice vue in care home wher i work ;-)
Es muy hermoso como escribes soy una gran admiradora de tus libros la forma en como describes y das un mensaje es impresionante..yo tambien escribo y mi sueño en compartir y dar mensajes como los que das…..me falta mucho para poder llamarme escritora..pero todos somos escritores de nuestro propio destino. Saludos desde Mexico
Truly amazing and true . I enjoyed reading it .
Many years ago I made a list of all the places I wanted to travel and visit to witness the sun rise. The top of the list is Mt. Sinai in Egypt. I’ve read many articles, watched numerous videos of this phenomenon. The pilgrimmage to be one rooted in spirituality was my inspiration having always loved the quest of Moses up this mountain and how he wrote the 10 commandments.
I’ve somewhat given up that goal to climb Mt. Sinai. Its not as necessary now in my life after having struggled in many areas recently (physical health). However, reading Paulo’s entry today reminded me of that past goal that meant so much to me. I used to visualize the climb. The hours to reach the top while still dark. To reach the peak and meditate with my prayer shawl, and silently await the universe to give birth to another day via sunrise.
I suffered a stroke 2 years ago and I’m not as physicallly strong as I used to be. Not even sure if I could climb that specific mountain today. However, after reading Paulo’s experience, it filled my heart to know that in my heart and my vision I have climbed my own mountain many times and witnessed the tears of heaven burst within me to console me.
After reading today’s inspiration from Paulo, I think I will uncross this goal off my list and try again to make it happen in whatever distant future of grace that is afforded to me.
Thank you Paulo for this reminder today.
Querido Paulo
es un placer muy grande para mi leer cada día lo que usted coloca en su blog, llena mi alma y espiritu de cosas nuevas y puedo vivir a través de usted experiencias diferentes, que bien que usted dispone del dinero suficiente para viajar por donde usted desea, que bueno que Dios le dió el don de la escritura para compartir con cosotros, “el comun de los mortales” cada experiencia suya, que Dios le cuide y le bendiga, que le de salud y fortaleza para que siga complaciendo nustros sentidos y nuestra imaginación con sus maravillosas historias y sus maravillosos libros usted es un ciudadano del mundo por la misericordia de Dios, mis respetos para usted, con cariño
thank you so much Paulo .. you’ve rekindled my writing candle ;-)
I’m reading your “by the river Piedra i sat down and wept” weeping …
Repetir metas hasta que ya no puedas, puede funcionar en lo físico, pero espiritualmente, siempre llegarás a la cima las veces que quieras.
Yo compruebo con el deporte que practico que los tiempos los puedo seguir mejorando pero con rendimientos decrecientes, cuando comience la curva del descenso, será justamente eso… comenzar algo diferente pero siempre comenzando, siempre con la misma actitud de encontrar algo agradable en una nueva circunstancia, así sea esta una que me demuestre que ya no tengo la fuerza que tenía mas joven. Brigadinho Paulo.
Dear Paolo, THANK YOU for your stories… Some time ago you really helped me to find myself and I met my Destiny.
I think your wife’s answer is that of a seasoned Paulo Coelho family member. I am sure she has seen you climb many things both mentally and physically, and has always seen you succeed. If you had died on that mountain, I think she would have thought, ” I knew he would die doing something he loved .. which always involved challenging himself”. I love that she has the trust in you to know that she will always be the one you call after one of your adventures… even if it does jack the bill up.
Que maravilla de experiencia , puedo sentir atraves de lo que escribe la sensacion que vivio, admiro las montanas ahora que ya han pasado los anos , aunque cuando nina no me gustaban ya que vengo de un pais rodeado de montanas Chile , cuando joven adolecente me sentia como que eran un obtaculo para sentirme libre, me sentia prisionera eran como paredes rodeandome . . por eso sali de mi pais a viajar y ahora vivo sin montanas con mucho espacio .Pero subir a lo alto de una montana es acercarse a Dios hoy dia lo entiendo y disfruto ir a una montana , pero solo por un rato , aun pienso que son como paredes . En cuanto a viejo talvez por falta de fuerza fisica hay cosas que no pueda algun dia hacer ,pero mientras su alma este joven su mente fuerte hay muchas cosas que aun sin la fuerza fisica podra hacer , ya que el espiritu y una mente fuerte pueden a veces mas que un fisico fuerte. Dios lo bendiga .
It is good to have the stamina to challenge ourselves psysically.
Love
Breda
Thankyou for this story. I will light a fire too.
Living in the present moment.
Love to All,
Jane
hi
I love your challenge to yourself. Just go up better prepared always. The mountain will be honest with you even if you have a protein bar, water and a jacket. Plus, then you’ll make it back down to discover your new “something.”
P.S. Your wife is wonderful. :)
Never go climbing alone. Hello.
Sam has made a good point, “never go climbing alone”. It would be a shame to lose further stories from such a wonderful writer.
← Previous Comments
Next Comments →