347 – REBLOG: On 6 Reflections After Quitting Cosplay (2022 Edition)

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I originally published this one back in March 2017 and decided to revisit it more than five years later. Many things have changed since when I first published this article, including my relationship status. Thus, I took down the original version – but not without linking an archived version in its place.

This was originally scheduled to be published for Christmas, but a recent spam attempt by a Japanese blogger (more on that on the post-script) prompted me to publish this ahead of schedule.

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Long-time followers of The Monching’s Guide are aware that I left cosplay in 2014, a year after starting this blog. But for those who recently followed, I was into the hobby from 2008 until my departure six years later.

Things fell into place since I left, having a total of five jobs as of 2022 and having my first relationship which lasted four years. Looking back now, I’m definitely in a different place since quitting cosplay – which I do not regret doing so.

But what exactly have I learned during that span of seven years, with all the ups and downs? Let me distill them into six main maxims.

1. While bookish knowledge may mean nothing in the workplace, it’s not entirely useless.

Let’s face this fact of life: There are people who have an edge over you – whether it’s more experience, talent, hustle, or whatnot. But there are times that your contributions can actually make or break things. Better having that knowledge and not needing it in most instances, than needing it and not having it when the situation requires.

I’m rather well-versed in general knowledge, history, food, and current events – things that aren’t exactly helpful in most workplaces. But I managed to utilize these as assets, especially in my current job that requires me to write and edit news.

2. There are better things to spend on that can improve your overall image, such as clothes.

Before entering and during my stint in cosplay, I often dressed like a slob and did not give a single bit of care as to how I wore my clothes. It was only after I left the hobby and entered my first relationship that I started to take my wardrobe seriously. Dressing sharply and properly improves your self-confidence and self-image by leaps and bounds!

Indeed, the idea of dressing for success is true. If I continued to wear clothes like someone who didn’t care about my wardrobe, people would underestimate my capabilities. While externals do not matter in the long run, an unforgettable first impression works wonders.

3. “Who you know” can only bring you up to a certain point.

A major mistake I made back in cosplay and my college years was hanging out with the wrong people. It was only realized that my associations with these people “dragged” me down by limiting me from some things; “tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are,” says the adage. Fortunately, things turned around when I graduated and joined the workplace.

Being an introvert myself, I do find it difficult to make connections with others. But instead of looking at it as a weakness, I now see it as a strength as I get to observe people through an unfiltered lens. It also allows me to weed out people of ill repute so that I may take the necessary precautions.

4. It’s never too late to unplug.

Many who enter cosplay do not leave until their 30s. Had things not worked out right for me, I wouldn’t have left at 24. But still, would you want to see the years pass while you stagnate in cosplay, slowly sticking out like a sore thumb as an older cosplayer among the young ones?

Quitting proved to be a good decision as things fell into place. Don’t let the fear of the future overpower you; unplug and do what you must. This also applies to social media, which I mentioned in two entries: Do not hesitate to permanently sever ties with social media if your well-being suffers.

5. Some people enter your life for a reason, a season, and a lifetime.

Your encounters with certain people, either accidental or contrived, shape you in a profound manner. People who enter for a reason usually do so to either teach you a lesson or remind you of the things that matter. After the lesson, they “disappear” and you forget about them entirely.

Those who enter for a season will only remain for a certain period – with them disappearing after the passage of time. Finally, the people who arrive in your life for an eternity do three things: impart valuable things, be there when you need them, and shape their lives alongside yours. I’ve had the first two kinds of people enter my life, but at the end of the day – it’s you and you alone.

6. The Land of the Rising Sun isn’t the paradise media and pop culture depict it to be.

Being an erstwhile cosplayer and anime fan, I myself admit to being enchanted by Japan at first. Anime shows depicted the country as efficient, clean, peaceful, and prosperous. It was only after I quit and subsequently had my first overseas trip to Singapore that I realized Japan isn’t the paradise I envision it to be.

From the exorbitant cost of living that’s more expensive than Singapore, the xenophobia towards foreigners as evidenced by my exchanges with other bloggers based there, the language barrier and difficulty of speaking Nihongo (I gave up on that years ago), to the brutal salaryman work culture and general weirdness of the Japanese, my idealized view of the country was shattered. Worse, I learned that even anime and cosplay – interests gaining ground among younger Filipinos – are frowned upon by the Japanese themselves.

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From an outsider’s perspective, I never achieved anything during my six years of cosplaying – and even wasted a ton of money on it. I would still have the safety net of cosplay if I chose to stay, but I eventually opted to leave for good – with the risk of fading into obscurity.

I may be a nobody outside the costume, but at least I’ve started over and made this blog. I’ve made it this far since leaving in 2014 – and I do not, and will not, regret my decision.

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Let me end this post with these two screenshots of me calling out this “spiritualist” blogger from Japan who apparently can’t take no for an answer. Since the said blogger discovered my site around 2018 or 2019, they have not stopped abusing the Like function on the WP Reader to spam my posts.

I ignored the said blogger for several years, but the spam attacks continued. Thus, I fired warning shots twice. I pray that I don’t have to resort to drastic threats and serious measures to make this “spiritualist” blogger and others like them stop this bad practice. (I won’t link the offending blogger’s site as I don’t want to give them unnecessary traffic.)