Optimism: The Secret Weapon Of Shonen Anime Protagonists

This picture taken in Japan represents what is undoubtably one of the hardest years of my life, 2019 was an incredibly hard year for me.

There’s been family struggles, business issues, the passing of pets, missed opportunities, and my 3 sets of braces have put a strain on me both physical and mental that I could never of predicted in my wildest dreams (I fully understand now why the success rate of braces for adult males is near zero).

It could be easy for me to say it's been a bit of a shite year.

But lets pull that back, for all the reasons I could have to feel down about myself there’s a gazillion reasons to smile despite it all. My partner is awesome, my family are supportive, I have a job that I love, I get crazy opportunites, I’m healthy, strong af, and even if my braces were a pain in the ass it’s a pain in the ass I asked for and worked for that changed my life for the better.

But let’s say I didn't even have that going for me, I’d at least still be alive. And as long as we’re alive, we have the ability in ourselves to turn any situation around from a burden to a benefit.

I think this matters more so than ever during Covid times. The passing of loved ones, the loss of jobs, unstable financial security, intermittent lockdowns, and degrading social lives give us every reason to be upset.

But just how much do we have to be grateful for? 

There’s always going to be somebody better off than you, there’s also always going to be somebody worse off than you. Keep moving forward, keep smiling, and never give up on your dreams. Challenges are what life is made of, rise to the challenge.

I'm not saying you're not allowed to be upset. Far from it.

In 2020 our cat Tommy died and I was distraught. Now every day I go to his grave and tell him what I'm grateful for.

By choosing to see what we have got more often than what we haven't got and by choosing to see what we've gained more often than what we've lost we can be that little more grateful and just that little bit happier and fulfilled in our heroes journey. The strategy isn't to eliminate bad days, the strategy is to have more good days than bad. After all, we've got a hell of a lot to be thankful for.

That's the mentality of everyone you admire in Shonen anime be it Goku, Naruto, Monkey D Luffy, Ichigo Kurosaki, or any of the Jojo's. What you admire is also in you, find a reason to smile in each day. Be More Shonen.

Cosplay: Son Goku (DragonBall Z) Photo: Me and Nomes Cosplay (Taken at World Cosplay Summit 2019)