• Mikey Ryu
• April 10, 2024
• 0

The Power of a Second Chance

At least once in our lives, we have all thought about how great it would be to get a second chance, to restart from the beginning, claiming how we would do things differently to improve the quality of our lives. This theme isn’t just portrayed through our lives but also through media – mainly through manga and anime – that show us just how powerful a second chance is. Two great pieces of media that spring to mind are Tappei Nagatsuki’s Re:Zero (starting life in another world from zero) and Chu-Gong’s Solo Levelling, these stories both follow the concept of a second chance and how much effort and pain someone can go through to just break the habits they previously formed, they both portray the sense that everyone’s greatest potential is held behind one’s mind. In this blog, we will dive into how these two stories tackle the thought of a second chance and then give you some actionable tips to help you make your only chance at life, the best it possible can be.

Solo Levelling: How One Thing Can Change Everything

In this amazing series written by Chu-Gong, we follow a young boy known as Sun-Jin-Woo (The Weakest Hunter of all) he’s a skinny lad who tries his “best” but seems to be never getting anywhere. One day he has to face all of reality and come to terms with him being the weakest of them all. This is where the journey of self-development happens all because of “The System” and him becoming “a player”, at first he doesn’t change at all as he sees it all as a joke. After experiencing the punishment quest and realising that he doesn’t want to die again, he believes the things around him are there for a reason and begins to change drastically.

What’s the Meaning of this:

Sun Jin Woo realises that the Punishment quest is worse than the daily quests, to relate this to modern-day life building new habits is better than staying stagnant and staying the same for the rest of your life. It’s through “the System” that he realises the steps to become “the strongest Hunter of all”.

Key takeaways:

• Find your Punishment Quest: Could be that you don’t want to feel this way anymore
• The System: This is a reflection of a plan that you follow – Create your system.
• Becomes a Player: This is a reflection of how – just like how we do in a video game – We control the course of our life and what we can do (where we can allocate our stat points).

Re:Zero: The Journey Of Self-Development

Tappei Nagatsuki’s Re:Zero follows a weak shut-in guy who gets transported to another world, the twist with this one is everytime he dies the world resets to a checkpoint (that no one knows the requirements for one to be set). This anime, manga, and light novel series all follow Subura Natsuki on his journey to solve the problems he faces and yet he fails to change himself. This series perfectly reflects jsut how hard it is to pull yourself through the overwhelming situations that people can findthemselfs in, alone. While subaru isn’t physically alone he never opens up to anyone until later on in the series, it’s this impactful scene that then releases everything and makes him releaise that this is “the second chance” that we all chase.

This is the pivotal moment in the anime where subaru finally comes to terms with what he is and how he feels, he fianlly relised that by chasing other people (Emilia) he neglected himself.

What’s all this mean?

Suabru realises that the best way to help those around him was infact to become a stronger person -both mentally and physically- it was this outburst of emotinal pain that made him relise how shroaded his vision was. In other words, to link this to modern day you – like subaru natsuki – must first come to terms with yourself if your ever going to succed in becomeing a stronger person.

Key Takeaways:

• Time: No matter where you are in the world self improvement takes an immense amount of time
• Yourself: you have to know who you are or rather who you want to be (subaru does this by becoming someone who Emilia would enjoy having on her side)
• Facing reality: A common theme throught the series is the constant reasurance that subaru gets from constantly dieing he has to face the reality that he is infact Weak – but with every challenge he grows stronger.
• Changing Habits: this Series also reflects jsut how hard it can be to break the loop some of us have built, it forces us out of our comfort zone and into unfimiliar teritory.
• You are the Problem and solution: Re:zero shows us how we are the only barrier to our success and development as a person, we choose what we do and how we spend each second of everyday.

Your Second Chance:

They say your second chance starts when you realise you only have one chance to succed, much like Subaru and sun jin woo had to realise that the lives they live are small in comparison. From Solo levellings reality facing punishment quest too Re:Zeros Constant renforcement of never quite being enough, both of these peices of media show you jsut how hard picking yourself up can be. Now let’s dive into some tips and techniques that can help you become the person you’ve always wanted to be.

Discovering Your Current Habits:

One thing that is holding many of us back is the curent habits that we have built and jsut like the characters mentioned above we have to come to terms with reality and recognise that most (if not all) are the reason we are still how we are. A harsh truth to learn is that you are the one thing stopping you from progressing but you also have the power to change everything.

A settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.

Definition Of Habit

How to Discover The Habits:

After a day write down everything you did and rougthly (if you can) when you did them and for how long. This will allow you to visabily see what your doing that is potentially slowing you down (e.g. Doomscrolling). Once you identify what it is your doing that you wish to replace you cna identify how you can replace them.

Create Your “System”:

Just like in Solo Levelling if you can create your system for improvement with a punishment that you really don’t want to do. I will make a Seperate blog on this to give you ideas and expalin in more detail.

• Create stats to track your consistancy with habits (strength for workouts, etc)

Set Close Deadlines:

There was a study done that showed in the last two months of the year business productivity and sales increased. This is due too two main factors, humans natural goal-oriented reward system and the sence of urgency can trigfer the brains fight-or-flight response. Put these combained allows for an intence period of work.

• Use the looming deadline to create a sence of urgency to your self-improvement about 2 weeks is a good reacuring deadline.

Making Habits easier:

Another way that you can increase your chances of staying consistant is lowering the friction to start new habits but making the barrier to entry easier while making it harder to do bad habits a great example is taking the batteries out off your tv remote and placing them in another room while placing a book where your remote is (if reading more is a habit).

• Make it easiry to do the things you want and harder to do the things you don’t want to do

In conclusion, the exploration of the theme of second chances resonates deeply within us, not just in our personal lives but also in the stories we consume through media like manga and anime. Through narratives such as Tappei Nagatsuki’s “Re:Zero” and Chu-Gong’s “Solo Levelling,” we witness characters grappling with the profound opportunity for self-improvement that comes with a second chance. Both Sun Jin Woo and Subaru Natsuki embark on journeys of self-discovery and growth, confronting their weaknesses and striving to become stronger individuals. These stories illustrate that true transformation requires facing reality, breaking old habits, and embracing the journey of self-development. They remind us that our second chance begins when we acknowledge our own potential and take proactive steps towards realizing it. By understanding our current habits, creating personalized systems for improvement, setting close deadlines, and making desired habits easier to adopt, we can empower ourselves to make the most of our one chance at life and become the best versions of ourselves. As we navigate the complexities of self-improvement, let us remember that the power to change lies within us, and every moment is an opportunity to rewrite our story.