Fear is an emotion that negatively influences people to shy away from their plans. Throughout the novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, many characters are overcome by fear and more particularly by the fear of loss and the fear of the future. Coelho repeatedly shows that by overcoming these fears, people are freed from the confines of fear and are therefore ready to achieve their dreams. To begin with, the fear of losing things or people they love places people in dilemmas that influence the rest of their journey. and they can only get around these dilemmas by getting rid of fear completely. To begin with, Santiago's fear of losing everything he has already gained makes him question his plans and therefore discourages him from continuing his journey. Santiago expresses his doubts by stating that his "'heart is a traitor... it doesn't want him to continue.' “That makes sense,” the alchemist replied. “Naturally, he [is] afraid that by pursuing [a] dream, [a person] might lose everything [he] [has] gained”” (Coelho 145). Throughout the novel, Santiago learns to always listen to his heart, but in this situation, if he did so, it would result in abandoning his journey. The alchemist encourages Santiago to come out of this fear by saying that it is okay to be afraid, but not okay to give up on a dream because of a feeling. The best solution for Santiago in this situation is to completely overcome his fear of loss and clear the doubts in his mind for a smoother journey. Then, the fear of losing his life in the middle of the journey makes Santiago question whether it is appropriate to risk his life to pursue a dream. Santiago learns to manage this situation, as "the camel driver [one day] said, dying tomorrow [is] no worse than dying on any other... middle of paper... is only there to try to deflect it because the fear of suffering is worse than the action itself, which never happens when you chase your dreams anyway. Therefore, the fear of suffering in the future must be overcome because it is nothing but a burden on life. So, fear of the future must be overcome because people don't know if what they are afraid of will actually happen. In conclusion, Coelho shows that people are more willing to achieve their dreams if they overcome their fears. The two most important fears that need to be overcome are the fear of losing loved ones or things and the fear of what the future holds. Ultimately, fear is really just an obstacle in life; it controls people and makes them believe things that are not necessarily true and the only way to get rid of these thoughts is to get rid of fear itself.