Alright, what's going on guys? On today's episode of the Otaku Liberation, I want to talk about the true double-edged sword, and that is comparison.
You know, the thing that we all do even though we don't want to do, whether it's for better or for worse, we always tend to compare ourselves to other people, right?
And I figured the character this week that best symbolizes that is the main character of Blue Lock, who is Yoichi Isagi.
But first before we get into it, again if you're new here, my name is Nate, and you're listening to the Otaku Liberation.
This is a show where we help you break free from the chains that are holding you back in your life by connecting some biblical principles with themes from your favorite anime.
This is your spoiler warning right now for any of my anime only listeners out there, you may not have caught up to the manga yet.
Now we'll be going over some things that are coming up down the road. So yeah, without further ado, let's get into it.
So, Yoichi Isagi, the main character of Blue Lock, the heart of Blue Lock himself, the goat, right?
Anyone who's watched the series or read it, we all know when he gets on that field he becomes a different animal.
And especially if you're reading the manga now, if you're reading it to where he's at now, looking at where he was before, completely, completely different character.
And I think that really does symbolize how a lot of us go through our own lives today. I know for me especially.
And I guess the biggest thing, the biggest chain that he had to break, and honestly I'll put myself out there as well, is comparing yourself to others, comparing yourself to other people.
And if you do that, it really dampers and even just completely erases the vision of your own success.
Let me use some examples to kind of illustrate what I mean. So in terms of Blue Lock, way back in the first selection when Isagi and his team were going against Reo and Nagi.
And for those who don't know, don't worry, I'll try to explain some of these characters, but just to let you know, Nagi is a boy genius when it comes to soccer.
He's just started playing soccer less than a year, and the rest of these guys have been playing their entire life, and he's already surpassed a lot of them.
And Nagi's weapon or gift, in reference to the last episode, is his insane ball control.
No matter how the ball is passed to him or whatever, his first touch is always immaculate, and no one can ever guess what he's going to do next.
And during this match, during the first time that they played against each other, Isagi was trying to figure out, okay, what can he do, him being Isagi, what can he do in order to emulate what Nagi's doing, to give his team that extra edge, to give them the extra oomph.
And what Blue Lock really does is anytime Isagi is thinking or formulating something, it does a really good job of illustrating his thought process.
And when he was doing this, a pass was coming to him, and he was trying to envision how he could take down the ball just like Nagi.
How could he use Nagi's gift in the same way that he does, in the same way that Nagi does, in order to get ahead, to get ahead of the game.
And he couldn't see a clear path to victory when he was doing that.
Every image of him scoring a goal would just fall to pieces because he was trying to use a gift that was meant for somebody else.
And he was trying to use it in the same way that they were using it, the same way that he had honed it, the same way he had discovered it.
If you try to come in, like it's just like me trying to come in and, you know, try to say, I seem like Brian McKnight, right?
I know good and well, I don't seem like Brian McKnight, but if I try to envision myself singing and just being as successful as, you know, as whatever, right, as him, then that's not going to happen because that's not my gift.
That's not me. And that's what the issue Isagi was facing with at this point.
He kept trying to imagine himself being like Nagi, taking down the ball with just this gentle, immaculate touch and being able to score like that.
And because he was so fixated on another person's gift, it would have ultimately led to his own destruction and the loss for his team.
And I know we can easily, easily fall victim to that trap where we don't see the blessings and the gifts that we have because we're too busy looking at somebody else's.
And we get fixated on that because, oh man, if I had what they had, then I'll be where they're at or even further beyond.
And that, first of all, that subtracts from, you know, the blessing that God's already placed in your life, right?
And because he made all of us unique and gave us all unique gifts and talents that he wants us to be good stewards over and to use, you know, for, you know, to help further along the kingdom and to better everyone's life here on Earth and to glorify him in heaven.
But if we're too busy focusing on what other people are doing, then we're left just, you know, our gift is just left to die more or less. It's going to wither, wither and wither away until we eventually lose it.
And again, it's going to lead to some self-destruction. And that was something.
Now, granted, most of us have, you know, you've got to willing a lifetime to figure that out for ourselves, right? To figure out, OK, we can't just copy somebody else's gift and expect to be able to use it just like our own.
But in Sagi, in this case, he had mere seconds, like literally the ball was coming and he had to make a decision whether he was going to try to take it down using someone else's gift like Nagi or if he was going to realize how to use his own gifts.
And and when I was sitting down writing this episode, I came across a scripture, Galatians 6, 4 through 5.
And it goes, So let each person examine his own work, then he can take pride in himself alone and not compare himself with someone else, for each person will have to carry his own load.
And all that's really saying is that you have to examine yourself. You have to do only what you can do. Don't worry about what everybody else is doing because you're not them.
You know, the only only thing in life that you have complete and utter control over is yourself and how you how you do things, how you react to things, what is at your disposal and how you use it.
So if you are to be the fixating on what somebody else can do or what or or even flip the coin, flip it, you folks that fixate on things that you can't do, then the things that you can do are never going to be developed.
You're never going to get anywhere. You'd be stuck in this vicious cycle of, you know, of envy and jealousy and self loathing and you and just all the just the negative things.
You're just going to feel worse and worse and worse about yourself when you shouldn't have to because at the end of the day, you're you're doing this to yourself.
You're you're comparing yourself to other flawed people. Right. Everyone has their flaws. Everyone has the things that they're good at.
Everyone has the things that they're bad at. And just because they seem to be on top of the world using their gift and being at this place, that doesn't mean that they don't have their own struggles, too.
And I know that's something that we all tend to forget, especially in the age of social media and things like that.
Now, you see all the highlight reels and you know, no one has to say no.
Most people don't show the bad side. Most people don't show the negative.
Most people don't show the struggle that that occurred that needed to happen in order for them to get to the top.
And when you compare your senior comparing your low point to someone else's high point, then your vision is going to be skewed.
It's never going to line up. It's never going to seem right. It's never going to seem fair.
And I just I just don't want you to fall fall victim to that because we always say life's too short to be focused on what you can't do or what someone else has.
And you can just be sad, be miserable the entire day. I know I was for a long time just trying to compare myself to to other people and people who are more successful than I am, who are doing more than what I'm doing, who know what it is that they want to do and what they're meant to do.
Right. That's what my biggest thing was. It's just knowing what it is that I meant to do.
Now, you're going to know it right off the bat. Probably not. You're probably going to fail multiple, multiple, multiple times.
But it really doesn't matter as long as you learn from it, because you shouldn't look at them as failures.
You should look at them as, you know, as opportunities. You get the opportunity to learn.
OK, I'm not so good at this, but now I know that I'm not that good at this. I can try something else now instead of always wondering what it could have should have.
Right. Because the biggest disappointments come from not they don't come from failing. They come from never trying.
So what if I would have done this? What if I want to went there? Whatever way if I would try this, you know, the what else would eat you, eat you and eat you alive.
But if you just put yourself out there and do it and you fail at it, you just know, OK, at least now I know this wasn't for me.
You know, maybe this business venture wasn't for me. Maybe, you know, maybe sports wasn't my end all be all like I thought it was.
You know, now let me pivot and see where I can go from there. And you'll know, you'll know what your guess you're in this niche, your time, whatever it is that gets you up in the morning.
You know what it is because it'll speak to you in a different level. It'll speak to still speak to your soul versus your brain.
Right. Because it is something you just wake up and you just know, all right, this is what I want to do.
This is what I'm going to do and I'm going to do it because it makes me happy for no other reason than for another.
It makes me happy. It gives feel like giving me purpose to my life.
And once you're in there, once you're in your bag like that, then you won't you won't even be concerned about what everybody else is doing because you're so involved in that.
Because all of you guys know this, but for us humans, we don't like to be uncomfortable.
We like to be in places that make us feel good and to do things that make us feel good.
So if you're doing something that you truly love and you're utilizing, you found your gift and utilizing it to the, you know, to the maximum potential, that's going to feel amazing.
So you're not even going to want to look at what everybody else is doing.
Hey, even obviously you want everybody to look at you, what you're doing.
Hey, you know, man, they need so happy doing this over here. Why? How's he like that? Let me let me ask him. Let me talk to him. See what's going on.
And that that feeling of just being at peace, of not worrying about what everybody is thinking, whatever is doing, that really, really just speaks volumes and it does does wonders to nurture your soul.
And so I think the beginning of that is to shift from comparing yourself to others and compare yourself to, you know, to to yourself.
You know, it's a north and what the words to say here, compare yourself to yourself.
And what I mean by that is compare yourself today to how you were yesterday.
You know, I'm a firm believer we should try to be better than we were yesterday each and every day. It's as little as one percent. Right.
Because there's 365 days in a year, most years. And if you get one percent better each and every day, that's 365 percent better a year from now than you are today.
And, you know, I'm no mathematician, but that that's a lot.
And I mean, it sounds simple and it can be harder than what it sounds like, but it doesn't have to be. Right.
So I know I know a lot of times people try to overcomplicate things and really try to make, oh, man, I got to do this, I do that, I do this, that and the third.
I think, no, you don't have to say because the only thing you have to do is just to find something to get better at.
And if you don't know what to get better at, look, look at the people you were just comparing yourself to.
So instead of looking at their high points and just, you know, being envious and jealous of them from from from far off, why don't you reach out and talk to them?
Say, hey, I'm dealing with this. You seem to have it all together, even though we all know they don't. But let's just say you seem to have it all together.
What is it that you're doing? What is it that that helped you get to where you are now?
Where are some things? And I understand most people, most people are more than willing to tell you what helped them to overcome whatever whatever issue that they've had, whatever shortcoming, whatever, you know,
whether it's posture syndrome, whether it's an addiction or whatever it is, you know, just to get self-loading, anything like that.
They were more than happy to share that with you because they don't want that to happen to somebody else.
And what you would take from that is to take the notes, take the tidbits that they've given you and see how you apply to your own life.
Now time to time it back to Isagi. Isagi did that with two characters in the series. Excuse me. Actually, I could say three, three characters in the series where two of which are sent.
They essentially have a similar gift to Isagi himself, you know, how he's able to read the field and, you know, and the players and in basic control of the pitch.
But they're just at a higher level than what he is right now. And those characters are again are Rin.
Again, if you're anime only, you've already met Rin and then Kaiser who we're going to meet later on.
And both of those characters have similar abilities to Isagi. They're just dialed up to 11.
And whereas before Isagi was trying to imitate, you know, like Nagi's ball control, a skill that he does not, he doesn't, it's not his gift.
And he couldn't, he can envision his own success. Now he's OK.
And I take it he takes that back in reflecting. OK, I want to get to random Kaiser's level. What can I do?
What can I take from them in order to improve my own game?
So from Rin, he started copying his cooldown routine to see, you know, to get into that same mind space.
Right. Because you want to be the best, you have to imitate the best. And Isagi was just stuck on like a white on rice.
Right. And just really trying to get into that mind space and really just to observe Rin and essentially study him.
Keep in mind these two guys are rivals. But Isagi has the mindset of, well, I'm going to be better than I was yesterday.
So let me study and see what it takes to be better.
And I think it was another character, Baro, who he did even before with Rin after Isagi had Baro join his team.
They were going through a practice and Baro was doing this insane warm up routine, just real high intensity to build up his stamina and his physique.
And Isagi, Isagi realized that his shortcomings is his physicality when it comes to the rest of the players.
Right. Mentally, he's he's above most of them, but physically, he's honestly about average compared to the rest of the guys.
So he that's another that's another area he wanted to get better at.
So he decided, all right, let me know.
He just hop in with Baro and get the training and get it done.
And it's simple things like that.
Just making the decision to be willing to change, right, to be willing to take a step back, look at yourself and realize your own weaknesses and then doing something about it.
Because as to doing something about it part, that makes it difficult because it's easy to say, oh, man, I just suck at this. I just I can't do this.
I can't do that. And you just sit there and throw a pity party.
But the real reward, real reward comes with hard work.
Anything in life worth having requires hard work.
And that especially applies to yourself, because in the end of the day, if you're not going to work, if you're not going to do anything, then nothing else is going to work for you.
So you have to be willing to take that first step.
You have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone to do what you need to do in order to, again, just get better.
And it doesn't have to be this grandiose change every day.
Like if you're trying to stop smoking cigarettes, I'm not saying it's quit cold turkey today, just throw the packs out in the garbage and never look back.
Some for some for some people, maybe they could do that.
But I know for the vast majority of people, that's not how life works.
And if you're just if you're trying to compare yourself to somebody who I haven't smoked this, who says I haven't smoked in 25 years or something like that.
And you compare them to how they are now to where you are now, would you smoke three packs a day?
Then, you know, the division again, it's going to be skewed.
But if you just if you make the promise to yourself, OK, I'll just smoke one less cigarette today.
And then so instead of doing three whole packs, it's two packs in all but one of the last pack.
And then next day, OK, you smoke two whole packs and all but the last two and just slowly but steadily chip away, chip away, chip away.
And then I promise you, you'll see you'll see a huge difference.
And not only yourself, everyone else is going to see it, too.
You'll have a different glow, a different ratings about about yourself.
And and that's all it is.
So I really wanted to break down this whole thing about comparison and the good and the bad of it.
Right. Because comparison good, the positive comparison where you compare yourself to the past version of yourself.
You're striving to get better and better and better.
Right. And first, the negative type of comparison when you're being envious and jealous of somebody else, someone else's successes, someone else's high points when you compare to your low points.
Right. And I mean, there's a positive way you compare yourself to others, too.
And that's it. It breeds some kind of healthy competition to want you to push to the next level.
Right. And then it comes in again to just asking, OK, even asking yourself or asking them, what are they doing?
What are they doing each and every day to either become the best or stay the best?
I mean, you said the hard part isn't getting to the top, staying up there as long as as long as you possibly can.
Are you going to have some some some slippage?
You're going to take a few steps back.
But the important thing is to not go backwards.
Right. You can stumble, you can fall, you can take a few a couple of steps back.
But don't turn around and go back to what you were doing before, because then you just it raises the harbor that you started to get to this point.
And nobody wants that. Right.
I don't think anybody wants to go back to being worse off than what they are and what they are now.
And I mean, honestly, I mean, that's that's that's all it is every each and every day. Just try to get better. Wake up to the same.
OK, today I'm going to do something that's going to better myself.
You know, whatever that looks like, whatever it looks like for you.
I think for me personally, I'm trying to start taking cold showers consistently again each and every day.
I hate it. I hate it so much. I really do.
But when you when I come out of it, especially after after my morning workout and stuff, after a nice hard workout and a cold shower, you come out, you get dressed and you just it feels so refreshed.
And honestly, a lot of life is a lot like that.
You know, you go through the things that you don't want to go through.
You go through the stuff that you just absolutely loathe you hate.
You don't want to do on the other side of the reward.
It's just so it's so worth it. It's so worth it.
But yeah, so that's all I got for you guys today.
Again, thank you. Thank all of you for coming to the end of today's episode.
I pray that you get what you needed out of it and that you learn something new about yourself, too.
Now, again, for those who are new here, every every episode, so I'm going to go on over a different character from the anime that I'm covering again this season.
I'm covering Blue Lock and today was the main character, Saga Yoichi.
But next week, I'm going to be going over the dancing boy himself, Meguru Batchira.
So if you know, you know, if you don't, you'll find out next next time.
Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
I would love to read you guys comments because it really helps me improve each and every episode.
And just like I said, I try to get better each and every day, each and every day, whatever.
It's a little tweak I can do. So, yeah, again, that's pretty much all I got for you guys.
Again, always remember you are the main character of your story and that story doesn't end until he says so.
All right. Be blessed.