1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,000
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.
2
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:20,000
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?
3
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:30,000
And I figured the character this week that best symbolizes that is the main character of Blue Lock, who is Yoichi Isagi.
4
00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:36,000
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.
5
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:44,000
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.
6
00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:52,000
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.
7
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:58,000
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.
8
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:06,000
So, Yoichi Isagi, the main character of Blue Lock, the heart of Blue Lock himself, the goat, right?
9
00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:14,000
Anyone who's watched the series or read it, we all know when he gets on that field he becomes a different animal.
10
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:25,000
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.
11
00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:34,000
And I think that really does symbolize how a lot of us go through our own lives today. I know for me especially.
12
00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:49,000
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.
13
00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:58,000
And if you do that, it really dampers and even just completely erases the vision of your own success.
14
00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:11,000
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.
15
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:19,000
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.
16
00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:28,000
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.
17
00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:36,000
And Nagi's weapon or gift, in reference to the last episode, is his insane ball control.
18
00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:44,000
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.
19
00:02:44,000 --> 00:03:01,000
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.
20
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:12,000
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.
21
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:21,000
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.
22
00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:31,000
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.
23
00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:37,000
And he couldn't see a clear path to victory when he was doing that.
24
00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:45,000
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.
25
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:52,000
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.
26
00:03:52,000 --> 00:04:00,000
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?
27
00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:12,000
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.
28
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:18,000
That's not me. And that's what the issue Isagi was facing with at this point.
29
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:27,000
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.
30
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:39,000
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.
31
00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:51,000
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.
32
00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:59,000
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.
33
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:07,000
And that, first of all, that subtracts from, you know, the blessing that God's already placed in your life, right?
34
00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:24,000
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.
35
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:37,000
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.
36
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:43,000
And again, it's going to lead to some self-destruction. And that was something.
37
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:56,000
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.
38
00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:11,000
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.
39
00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:22,000
And and when I was sitting down writing this episode, I came across a scripture, Galatians 6, 4 through 5.
40
00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:34,000
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.
41
00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:45,000
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.
42
00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:57,000
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.
43
00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:12,000
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.
44
00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:22,000
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.
45
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:30,000
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.
46
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:38,000
You're you're comparing yourself to other flawed people. Right. Everyone has their flaws. Everyone has the things that they're good at.
47
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:49,000
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.
48
00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:54,000
And I know that's something that we all tend to forget, especially in the age of social media and things like that.
49
00:07:54,000 --> 00:08:00,000
Now, you see all the highlight reels and you know, no one has to say no.
50
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,000
Most people don't show the bad side. Most people don't show the negative.
51
00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:11,000
Most people don't show the struggle that that occurred that needed to happen in order for them to get to the top.
52
00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:19,000
And when you compare your senior comparing your low point to someone else's high point, then your vision is going to be skewed.
53
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:23,000
It's never going to line up. It's never going to seem right. It's never going to seem fair.
54
00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:36,000
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.
55
00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:52,000
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.
56
00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:57,000
Right. That's what my biggest thing was. It's just knowing what it is that I meant to do.
57
00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:03,000
Now, you're going to know it right off the bat. Probably not. You're probably going to fail multiple, multiple, multiple times.
58
00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:09,000
But it really doesn't matter as long as you learn from it, because you shouldn't look at them as failures.
59
00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,000
You should look at them as, you know, as opportunities. You get the opportunity to learn.
60
00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:22,000
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.
61
00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:29,000
Right. Because the biggest disappointments come from not they don't come from failing. They come from never trying.
62
00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:37,000
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.
63
00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:45,000
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.
64
00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:52,000
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.
65
00:09:52,000 --> 00:10:04,000
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.
66
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:11,000
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.
67
00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:16,000
Right. Because it is something you just wake up and you just know, all right, this is what I want to do.
68
00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:22,000
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.
69
00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:26,000
It makes me happy. It gives feel like giving me purpose to my life.
70
00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:36,000
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.
71
00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:42,000
Because all of you guys know this, but for us humans, we don't like to be uncomfortable.
72
00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:46,000
We like to be in places that make us feel good and to do things that make us feel good.
73
00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:56,000
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.
74
00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,000
So you're not even going to want to look at what everybody else is doing.
75
00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:02,000
Hey, even obviously you want everybody to look at you, what you're doing.
76
00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:12,000
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.
77
00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:29,000
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.
78
00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:41,000
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.
79
00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,000
You know, it's a north and what the words to say here, compare yourself to yourself.
80
00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:50,000
And what I mean by that is compare yourself today to how you were yesterday.
81
00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:59,000
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.
82
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:10,000
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.
83
00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:16,000
And, you know, I'm no mathematician, but that that's a lot.
84
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:26,000
And I mean, it sounds simple and it can be harder than what it sounds like, but it doesn't have to be. Right.
85
00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:38,000
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.
86
00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:46,000
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.
87
00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:51,000
And if you don't know what to get better at, look, look at the people you were just comparing yourself to.
88
00:12:51,000 --> 00:13:01,000
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?
89
00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:09,000
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.
90
00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:15,000
What is it that you're doing? What is it that that helped you get to where you are now?
91
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:30,000
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,
92
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:37,000
whether it's posture syndrome, whether it's an addiction or whatever it is, you know, just to get self-loading, anything like that.
93
00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:42,000
They were more than happy to share that with you because they don't want that to happen to somebody else.
94
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:50,000
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.
95
00:13:50,000 --> 00:14:04,000
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.
96
00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:12,000
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.
97
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:18,000
But they're just at a higher level than what he is right now. And those characters are again are Rin.
98
00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:23,000
Again, if you're anime only, you've already met Rin and then Kaiser who we're going to meet later on.
99
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:29,000
And both of those characters have similar abilities to Isagi. They're just dialed up to 11.
100
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:38,000
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.
101
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:43,000
And he couldn't, he can envision his own success. Now he's OK.
102
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:48,000
And I take it he takes that back in reflecting. OK, I want to get to random Kaiser's level. What can I do?
103
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:52,000
What can I take from them in order to improve my own game?
104
00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:59,000
So from Rin, he started copying his cooldown routine to see, you know, to get into that same mind space.
105
00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:06,000
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.
106
00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:14,000
Right. And just really trying to get into that mind space and really just to observe Rin and essentially study him.
107
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:20,000
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.
108
00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:24,000
So let me study and see what it takes to be better.
109
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:35,000
And I think it was another character, Baro, who he did even before with Rin after Isagi had Baro join his team.
110
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:45,000
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.
111
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:52,000
And Isagi, Isagi realized that his shortcomings is his physicality when it comes to the rest of the players.
112
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:59,000
Right. Mentally, he's he's above most of them, but physically, he's honestly about average compared to the rest of the guys.
113
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,000
So he that's another that's another area he wanted to get better at.
114
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,000
So he decided, all right, let me know.
115
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:09,000
He just hop in with Baro and get the training and get it done.
116
00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,000
And it's simple things like that.
117
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:24,000
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.
118
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:33,000
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.
119
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:37,000
I can't do that. And you just sit there and throw a pity party.
120
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:42,000
But the real reward, real reward comes with hard work.
121
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:47,000
Anything in life worth having requires hard work.
122
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:56,000
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.
123
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,000
So you have to be willing to take that first step.
124
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:08,000
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.
125
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,000
And it doesn't have to be this grandiose change every day.
126
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:19,000
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.
127
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:23,000
Some for some for some people, maybe they could do that.
128
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,000
But I know for the vast majority of people, that's not how life works.
129
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:38,000
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.
130
00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:44,000
And you compare them to how they are now to where you are now, would you smoke three packs a day?
131
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,000
Then, you know, the division again, it's going to be skewed.
132
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:52,000
But if you just if you make the promise to yourself, OK, I'll just smoke one less cigarette today.
133
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:58,000
And then so instead of doing three whole packs, it's two packs in all but one of the last pack.
134
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:06,000
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.
135
00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:11,000
And then I promise you, you'll see you'll see a huge difference.
136
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,000
And not only yourself, everyone else is going to see it, too.
137
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,000
You'll have a different glow, a different ratings about about yourself.
138
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:23,000
And and that's all it is.
139
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:28,000
So I really wanted to break down this whole thing about comparison and the good and the bad of it.
140
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:34,000
Right. Because comparison good, the positive comparison where you compare yourself to the past version of yourself.
141
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,000
You're striving to get better and better and better.
142
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:47,000
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.
143
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:52,000
Right. And I mean, there's a positive way you compare yourself to others, too.
144
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:58,000
And that's it. It breeds some kind of healthy competition to want you to push to the next level.
145
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:04,000
Right. And then it comes in again to just asking, OK, even asking yourself or asking them, what are they doing?
146
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:09,000
What are they doing each and every day to either become the best or stay the best?
147
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:15,000
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.
148
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,000
Are you going to have some some some slippage?
149
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,000
You're going to take a few steps back.
150
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:25,000
But the important thing is to not go backwards.
151
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:30,000
Right. You can stumble, you can fall, you can take a few a couple of steps back.
152
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:39,000
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.
153
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,000
And nobody wants that. Right.
154
00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:47,000
I don't think anybody wants to go back to being worse off than what they are and what they are now.
155
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:55,000
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.
156
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:59,000
OK, today I'm going to do something that's going to better myself.
157
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,000
You know, whatever that looks like, whatever it looks like for you.
158
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:10,000
I think for me personally, I'm trying to start taking cold showers consistently again each and every day.
159
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,000
I hate it. I hate it so much. I really do.
160
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:27,000
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.
161
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:31,000
And honestly, a lot of life is a lot like that.
162
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,000
You know, you go through the things that you don't want to go through.
163
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,000
You go through the stuff that you just absolutely loathe you hate.
164
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,000
You don't want to do on the other side of the reward.
165
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:43,000
It's just so it's so worth it. It's so worth it.
166
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,000
But yeah, so that's all I got for you guys today.
167
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,000
Again, thank you. Thank all of you for coming to the end of today's episode.
168
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:54,000
I pray that you get what you needed out of it and that you learn something new about yourself, too.
169
00:20:54,000 --> 00:21:04,000
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.
170
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:09,000
I'm covering Blue Lock and today was the main character, Saga Yoichi.
171
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:16,000
But next week, I'm going to be going over the dancing boy himself, Meguru Batchira.
172
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,000
So if you know, you know, if you don't, you'll find out next next time.
173
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,000
Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
174
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:29,000
I would love to read you guys comments because it really helps me improve each and every episode.
175
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,000
And just like I said, I try to get better each and every day, each and every day, whatever.
176
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:39,000
It's a little tweak I can do. So, yeah, again, that's pretty much all I got for you guys.
177
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:45,000
Again, always remember you are the main character of your story and that story doesn't end until he says so.
178
00:21:45,000 --> 00:22:04,000
All right. Be blessed.
