Hey everyone, this is The_SynchroGuy, and I am here to talk about how Yu-Gi-Oh changed my life. Real quick, I’m not gonna talk about my origin story, because I’ve done that enough for right now. What I want to discuss about was how I was during a part of my life and compare that to how my life currently is. All I have to say is, I am thankful for Yu-Gi-Oh being a part of my life.
Backstory:
In the past, I used to be like your average joe. In a way. Before now, my goal was to become an FBI agent. Why? Because I wanted to help people. I wanted to become a hero like the characters from all the TV shows I watched. At first I wanted to pursue criminal justice, but later learned they already had a lot of people with that curriculum. I later then decided to pursue computer science.
During that time, Yu-Gi-Oh was a good part of my life. When college time came up though, I had to put playing Yu-Gi-Oh aside. At least, in real life. I even left my cards back at home when I went to go live in the dorms at times. But I still kept up with all of the Yu-Gi-Oh related news, and played online when I could.
It wasn’t until later that I learned that what I was pursuing in college was not what I wanted to do. Actually, truth be told, I always knew what I really wanted to do. I just didn’t want to give up on my FBI goal because I wanted to feel like I didn’t make the wrong choice on the first try. Instead, I wanted to do something fun. Something entertaining. Like what a YouTuber does.
I heard all kinds of stuff of how some YouTubers dropped out of college to pursue a YouTube career path, and now they’re enjoying what they’re doing. That idea always tickled in the back of my brain. Like, if I could do that, and get to their level, maybe I could be living a good, happy life too. Of course, if there was anything I wanted to focus my content on, it was going to focus on Yu-Gi-Oh.
Now, obviously, I haven’t quite done that. I still plan on it, and don’t know if that will change later on, but for right now, that will come up after I’m done with what I’m currently doing. Which I will cover in just a bit.
Anyway, I was still going to class, trying to get some computer related degree at that point. And during that point, I wanted to start making a career that was solely focused on Yu-Gi-Oh. It sounded tough, and it is, but I wanted to make it into a reality. I mean, if so many other, regular everyday people could do it for what they were passionate about, why couldn’t I?
Even so though, making a career around something that is kind of popular, but at the same time not so much, was not gonna be easy. I contemplated on how to do it. Obviously, I had to start making videos. At first, I did put in some effort to make one, but didn’t upload it because I was afraid of it not being good enough, or screwing up the process somehow.
One day though, in late 2018, I saw an ad video for a product that was about making people’s passions into a full time career. Sounded too good to be true, and I could’ve skipped it, but I was so desperate at that point that I watched it and saw what it had to offer. After watching it, I decided to put my faith in it.
Now to be fair, I should’ve done some research beforehand and not just jump the gun. But I did, and let me just say, I got lucky. That product, or place, the ad brought me to was this place called Jumpcut Academy.
They had products for a couple of different things, like creating an online course (which I’m currently doing), making a big, successful YouTube channel, and so on. All with the goal of helping you turn your passions into a career. (It ain’t cheap to get the product though, I’ll tell you that.) Once I got it, I started watching the videos and taking notes on how I could achieve this pipe dream.
I was still going to school during this time though, but would get onto Jumpcut whenever I could. I was working towards what I actually wanted to do while I still went to school. Why did I keep going to school though? Because of my parents.
Speaking of my parents, they were still trying to encourage me to keep going to school, even though I was dreading it at that point. I sometimes told my mom that I wanted to do something else besides college, but she wouldn’t have it. I even got a “I’m disappointed in you” from my father one time for something school related that I can’t remember.
Basically, I kept my little Yu-Gi-Oh career a secret from my parents. That way, once I had achieved it, I could show it to them and maybe try to convince them to let me drop out of school and focus on my new Yu-Gi-Oh career instead. That was the plan, but then one day, everything changed.
One day, I was working on my Yu-Gi-Oh career, but when I noticed that it was about time for me to go to school, I didn’t want to go. In fact, that’s what I did. I didn’t go. My mom got concerned when I did that and got my dad to come to talk to me about it.
In that talk, I opened up on how I hated going to school right now. I was going after something that, at that point, I didn’t want to go after. To be fair, I kind of put myself in that current position since, growing up, I kept telling them I wanted to become an FBI agent and decided to get a major in computer science, so they were only trying to help me.
Even so though, I told my dad how I was trying to get a major in something I actually didn’t want and how miserable I was. I was expecting him to tell me that I should keep going to school or something like, “we all have to do things we don’t like, so tough it out”. But, what ended up happening was that he understood. I mean, not completely, but he could tell I was not happy and decided to go along with my decision to go for something else.
At that moment, I opened up and told him about Jumpcut Academy and how I was trying to make my Yu-Gi-Oh career. After he, and my sister, did some research into Jumpcut Academy, like I should’ve done the first time around, they realized I made a good choice (luckily), so my father then convinced my mom and sister that they should let me pursue this goal since it’s what I currently wanted to do (still do) and try to help me accomplish this goal.
Once that happened, I stopped going to school and was able to now fully focus on making my Yu-Gi-Oh career. That day I didn’t go to school was the turning point in my life.
Present Day:
Okay, but seriously, how has Yu-Gi-Oh changed my life? Well, if it wasn’t already obvious, Yu-Gi-Oh gave me a sort of direction. What do I mean by that? Well you know how there comes a point in time where you need to figure out what it is you want to do with your life? I mean, that’s why so many people go to college. Either to pursue what they want to do, or to figure out what it is they want to do.
For some of them, they probably haven’t figured it out yet. Heck, that’s probably why they just end up getting some random 9-5 job. We’re all trying to figure out what it is we want to do with our lives. We do it in such a way that it’s if we’re trying to find some sort of divine answer that could solve all our problems and worries. Or maybe find a doorway that could lead us straight to heaven. Bottomline: we start trying to figure out what the meaning of life is. Or, at least, what was the meaning of our lives.
In truth though, what our life means is what we determine it to be. For me, that answer became Yu-Gi-Oh. Yu-Gi-Oh was really the only thing I ever decided to get good at. I spend a lot of my free time on this game because I wanted to. When you find something you want to do in your free time and not because someone told you to do it, that speaks a lot about you.
Thanks to Yu-Gi-Oh, I found the thing I wanted to do with my life, and it has affected me in a good way. For starters, it made me want to improve myself. You know how in stuff like Shonen Jump how the main characters start off strong, but then find stronger opponents and get their butt kicked, which encourages them to get stronger? Yeah, that’s how I feel right now.
Before, I only imagined being the best. However, I was too scared or nervous to follow through with it. Right now though, I want to get stronger in Yu-Gi-Oh. By that I mean, I want to keep playtesting when I can to keep my skills up to date, take part in big tournaments and dominant them, and defeat some strong opponents. I like to call it my “Shonen Protag syndrome”.
Not only that, but Yu-Gi-Oh has introduced me to people that I wouldn’t have met on my own. I have some great friends, and for many of them, it was only possible for me to meet them because of Yu-Gi-Oh. This game gives me a reason to go out and meet people.
Heck, this game gave me a reason to travel. And let me tell you, in the past, I had no desire to travel, whatsoever. There were some great places out there, but I didn’t have any actual desire to go to them. Now, I want to go check them out. Obviously, only if there’s a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament going on there. But still, the fact that I didn’t want to travel before, but now want to travel says a lot about how Yu-Gi-Oh has changed me.
Last, and perhaps my most favorite thing, Yu-Gi-Oh has really given me a happy life. So much so that, now, I actually get encouraged to pursue and play this game by my father.
My father obviously is not interested in this game, but he’s been doing his best to learn what he can about it because he knows how much it means to me. In fact, when I went to take part at YCS Fort Worth back in 2019, my father was the one that joined me on that trip. He even recorded me playing one of my matches, like a parent trying to capture the moment when their kid takes his/her first baby steps.
My dad didn’t offer to go with me though. In fact, I invited him. Mostly because a lot of my friends had stopped playing Yu-Gi-Oh, and I doubted they would’ve gone with me. Still though, I’m glad I offered my dad this opportunity, because now, once Covid is over, it can become a father son thing.
Most of all, my dad keeps on complimenting me on how much I have changed over the past couple of years, and he knows it’s because of my interest in Yu-Gi-Oh. Since I’ve been changing for the better, he obviously wants me to keep that up so I can have a good life. In order to do that, he’s gonna encourage me to play Yu-Gi-Oh. I’m still not used to it, but the fact that he does that is truly a dream come true for me. And again, this wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Yu-Gi-Oh.
Conclusion:
I used to be someone that was dead set on going after something I didn’t really want. I went to college just like everyone else because it’s what you’re normally supposed to do. That or get a regular job. Anyway, I lied to myself, thinking I knew what I wanted when I actually knew that wasn’t true. Then came a point where I was just fed up with school. I was learning stuff I didn’t want to learn about. Nor did I see myself using any of that knowledge in my future.
I knew what I really wanted to do, which was to make a Yu-Gi-Oh career for myself, so I started trying to do that. I didn’t tell my parents about it at first because I was worried they would tell me to drop the idea, or to pursue it after I was done with school, which I knew wasn’t gonna happen since I was fed up with school at that point. After I finally came clean though, I instead got encouraged to follow this crazy dream of mine. (More so from my father. My mother wasn’t so sure about it. And right now, I won’t be able to know, officially, if she would’ve been okay with it. But I imagine she would’ve come around.)
Now, I am currently living a life where I am hard at work at trying to make this Yu-Gi-Oh pipe dream become a reality. It’s not easy, but I am so grateful to have this life I currently have. If it wasn’t for Yu-Gi-Oh, I probably would still be wandering around, trying to find my purpose in life. Well, I’ve found my purpose, and it has affected me in such a good way.
I used to be unmotivated, afraid, or stressed about doing something. Now, thanks to Yu-Gi-Oh, it has led me down a path where I was able to improve myself. I have a reason to go out and do something. I may still be afraid about some things, but now, that fear is not big enough to stop me. I will also still be stressed about certain things, but that’s okay. I’ll learn to deal with it and overcome it. And for me, the best way to do that is to aim for the top.
Best of all, I am encouraged by my friends and loved ones to keep on pursuing this pipe dream. I still have a long way to go, but even so, the journey to the goal I’ve set out for myself is a great one. It’s like playing a video game. The best ones are the ones that give us a great journey from point A to point B.
I have an amazing goal, and a great personality that I didn’t have before. I have a life that I’ve only ever dreamt about. The dream isn’t fully there yet, but I already have some of the great things from it. I’m living a life that’s close to what I want. I am able to focus solely on Yu-Gi-Oh, and now have a desire to become strong in it. I have come such a long way from where I started. I still have ways to go, but I am looking forward to every second of it.
None of this would’ve been possible if it wasn’t for Yu-Gi-Oh. To that, I say, “Thank you”, to Yu-Gi-Oh, to Konami, and most of all, to Kazuki Takahashi. Your little shonen manga idea gave rise to something big, and now it has given me a purpose in life, so thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you for reading this! I seriously just love Yu-Gi-Oh, and I don’t see myself leaving this game any time soon. Or ever. Only way that’s happening is if this game gets discontinued, which I don’t see happening at all. It may not be the most perfect game in the world, but it’s good enough for me.
Let me know in the comments what you thought about my little piece! Do you think I’m crazy? Or did you find it touching? Heck, I would love to hear how Yu-Gi-Oh has changed your life too.
I’ll see you guys in the next one! Hope you have/had an awesome day today! 
