Your Personal Legend

On Friday, as I was walking over to a happy hour event for my neighborhood, I was listening to "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho as narrated by the great Jeremy Irons. It's a story of adventure and destiny about a shepherd named Santiago who leaves Spain to follow a recurring dream he has had of finding treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. While that is his goal, the story is really about his journey of staying true to his "Personal Legend" despite multiple setbacks, distractions, temptations, and doubt. It is a deeply inspiring book that makes clear that we each have a Personal Legend, although not everyone necessarily follows it as Santiago does.

At the happy hour, I met a friendly software engineer from East Asia. I love hearing people's stories, and he told me about how his life had completely changed when, against all odds, he won a U.S. permanent residency card (i.e., Green Card) through the annual U.S. Green Card Lottery.
Reportedly, more than 11 million people around the world apply for this lottery every year, and only up to 50,000 visas are awarded. It is truly an extraordinary opportunity, and he has embarked on his own American Dream/Personal Legend by leaving behind everyone and everything that is familiar to him to work for a major corporation in Houston.

When I mentioned that I’m from San Antonio, he immediately took out his phone and started asking me what my favorite places are in San Antonio so that he could save them in his Google Maps. He showed me that he had saved recommendations from other people for other cities in this way so that whenever he visits a new city, he has options for where to go.

I felt his contagious enthusiasm for the new and the unknown—that energy of possibilities and “some day…” It reminded me of when we first meet the character of Santiago and learn that he is a shepherd (and not a priest as his family desired) because he preferred to roam with his sheep wherever he wished so that he could see the world.

At the same time, as the evening went on, this engineer admitted to me that he didn’t find his work at the corporation to be particularly interesting and that he didn’t see himself being there long-term. But for now the job paid the bills. Although he has clearly been following his Personal Legend, at some point he will have to decide whether to stay safe in his job (as many of the characters in "The Alchemist" do) or continue following his Personal Legend wherever it may lead him.

Can you relate to this? Being excited about possibilities and blessings in one area of your life that resonate with your own Personal Legend, but feeling stuck or unhappy in your work, which is where you probably spend most of your time and energy? If this speaks to you, and you would like to explore your career sector from an astrological perspective, I am now offering career astrology consultations where we can focus on this one area of your life.