The King of Salem

I have met the King of Salem.

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.”
“In the long run, what people think about you becomes more important than your own Personal Legend.”
“I always appear in one form or another, sometimes as a solution, a good idea, or a quiet easing of a crucial moment.”

That encounter in The Alchemist, between Santiago and the King, highlighted something deep within me.  I too have met the King.

It was the summer after a season of striving, when every piece of the puzzle seemed to snap into place. I had done all I thought I must. The grades. The effort. The image. The future. I stood tall, perhaps the strongest I had ever felt, both physically and mentally. Surrounded by growth, nourished by books and ambition, I believed the path was paved.

But comfort, like still water, can hide the monsters beneath.

The illusions fell fast, foundations I thought were solid crumbled, plans I had written in stone were washed away. What I thought was certain proved to be smoke. At the same time, my body buckled, an injury, illness, and shadows of the mind I’d never faced before. The world, once clear and structured, blurred into uncertainty.

And yet, somewhere in that haze, I made a choice I cannot quite remember making.

At the crossroads of destiny, I chose an unpaved path towards true passion. 

I let go of a path that no longer called to me. Of a title I had clung to. I turned toward something different, not because it was easier, or clearer, but because every quiet voice within me whispered it was time. I chose to rebuild.

And from that moment, the wind seemed to shift.

Opportunities appeared, some I had never dared to imagine. Doors opened. Invitations came. Somehow, I found myself walking paths I once thought out of reach, with strength I had not yet known.

I often wonder: when did it happen? What turned the tide? There is no single moment, no great sign. Only a quiet knowing, and the courage to follow it.

The King of Salem had passed by.

I am still walking forward, grateful for my meeting with the King, and continuing to pursue my personal legend.