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First, Santiago’s fear of failing to achieve his dream in the future causes him to be more reluctant in proceeding with his journey. During the journey Santiago’s heart “began to speak of fear. It told him stories it had heard from the Soul of the World, stories of men who sought to find their treasure and never succeeded. Sometimes it frightened the boy with the idea that he might not find his treasure” (Coelho 144). The fear of not being successful in a journey, backed up by stories of unsuccessful journeys causes Santiago to wonder if it is even worth trying in the first place. But, he must conquer this fear because all the ‘what-ifs’ will not do anything but slow him down and make his heart more confused. Second, the fear of emptiness in life after a dream is achieved causes the crystal merchant to not pursue his dream at all. The crystal merchant blames this on the fact that “it [is] the thought of Mecca that keeps [him] alive…[He] [is] afraid that if [his] dream is realized, [He] [will] have no reason to go on living” (Coelho 61). The crystal merchant assumes that the dream is what keeps him alive but does not know exactly what the outcome is, if he does go to Mecca because it is all in the future. He cannot simply determine his life according to meaningless assumptions that are brought on due to fear. He must abandon the fear of the future and not his dreams, because fears of the future are just worse-case-scenario assumptions that subconsciously change people’s mindsets. Finally, the fear of suffering in the future causes Santiago to want to abandon the journey and avoid the pain altogether. Santiago reveals that his “‘heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,’ [The alchemist replies,] ‘Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the
