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The Alchemist Quotes About Being Selfish

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Growing up, people tell you to think about others, to not be selfish, and to put others before yourself. But as you grow up you learn that sometimes you need to be selfish; sometimes you need to put yourself first. I tend to put other’s needs before my own and I have learned that it is an issue and something I need to work on fixing.
Do not get me wrong, being a kind and generous person is a wonderful thing, but when it begins to affect your well-being, that is when you have to draw the line. I used to think prioritizing others' feelings over your own was normal, but I recently come to the realization that it is not.
When reading The Alchemist, it amazed me how much I could identify with the book. A quote from the book I really related to was, “He had to choose between something he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have,” (Coelho 30) I wanted to be happy, I wanted …show more content…

When always thinking about others before yourself, it take a toll on your mental health and makes you feel upset. You are never thinking about how you may feel, only how others may feel.
In addition, I would also worry about how others would think of me. I always would always worry about my appearance, my personality, and my attitude because I worried what others would think. “Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own” (Coelho 8). I really loved this quote in The Alchemist because it perfectly depicts how society is.
People judge others and already have pictures of how someone is or how they should be in their heads. If you don’t fit that image of how everyone wants you to be, you don’t fit in. You are viewed as different and you do not want to be different, you want to be just like everyone else. When growing up, I realized that it is alright to be different, it is alright to not be like everyone

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