Meet Pieberry, a young witch who grew up isolated and on her own and named herself after her passionate love of pie and strawberries. That’s the main character of WitchSpring R. If that doesn’t already shout “crazy optimism”, I don’t know what will. Maybe my outlook on life could be so much better as well if I named myself after things I like. Like Cheesetea? Or Animepizza?
Despite the cute art and setting of WitchSpring R, there’s a surprising dark tone to the plot. Witches in the game are persecuted and hunted down by warriors in the church’s plot to eradicate all witches. If this Witch Hunt wasn’t enough, the Pope (the main bad guy) also captures young witches to torture, brainwash, and mind control them to do his bidding and hunt down other witches. These are kids too – pretty messed up.
Throughout the game Pieberry tackles every challenge with overwhelming confidence in her strength, a joyous demeanor, and always protects the people she likes, even though the whole world is against her.
I bought this game on a whim cause it looked cute and had good reviews and I needed the dopamine of a new game. I had heard if you like the Atelier series you would like this game, but to be fair I’ve never been able to get into the Atelier games, even though I enjoy the concept of sim games, farming, crafting, and battling.
What a hidden gem this game was. I found myself easily spending ~25 hours to beat the game, a big part because of how captured I was by the story. Despite the lighthearted convos and happy-go-lucky main character, I found myself continuously motivated to farm monster drops, craft better potions & spells, and get stronger in order to progress the main story and uncover what would happen next.
The Life Lesson
Life is tough. It’s not easy to be positive or optimistic in general, let alone through difficult times, especially if you’re an introvert with social anxiety like me.
Pieberry was alone, ostracized by everyone around her, even her own kind, and never even knew her parents. Yet her undying love for pies (and companionship) kept her hopes up to keep looking and always tackle things with a bright attitude.
Obviously this is a video game and not realistic, but that doesn’t change the fact that a bit of optimism can go a LONG way, especially through tough times.
I remember times where things were tough and at times hearing that ‘things will get better’ from someone who’s been there helped a lot. Empathy goes a long way, and sometimes being believed in is the last thing you need to believe in yourself.
Optimism isn’t about being able to ignore life’s difficulties, but believing in your ability to overcome them, or believing that others can overcome their inner demons. And that’s what Pieberry does in WitchSpring R. She can gauge who’s inherently evil, and who is inherently good, but just may be clouded with their inner demons or own perspective of justice. And with her optimistic attitude, she believes that the inherently good people can change and ends up bonding with them (typical MC energy).
This is different from toxic positivity, which is suppressing everything unpleasant through being positive and optimistic. Pieberry, although rarely, does get mad, lashes out, and feels hurt and jaded. As expected, she is a kid after all.
It’s not immature to be angry, or upset, or sulk when you’re feeling down. If anything, it’s more immature to NOT address these things and to mask them with positivity (hence why it’s called ‘toxic positivity’). You may think it only affects yourself, but it very commonly can affect the people around you. Because when you suppress your feelings and the things that bother you, they come out in different ways, whether it be your body language, tone, energy, or even the authenticity of your relationships.
How to use optimism when you’re dealing with adversity
Try this the next time you’re frustrated, sad, or just feeling some negative emotion.
1: Get it out of your system.
Punch a pillow. Vent for 10 min. Burrito up in a blanket, sulk, and listen to really depressing or really angsty heavy metal with some noise cancelling headphones. Be the biggest baby you’ve ever been. Be that depressing toxic person (just don’t be an asshole to others or your friends).
2: Do something relaxing to get your mind and body in the right state.
Take a bath. Go for a drive and do some car karoake. Eat some really yummy food. Go for a run. Just do something that puts you in a better mood.
3: Take action (or put together an action plan).
Finally, put together an action plan, and start executing it, even in baby steps. This is the part where you believe in yourself to overcome anything. Even if you don’t DO anything, the act of putting together a plan of action already gets you in the optimistic mindset. Plus it empowers you and puts you in control of what things happen in life, bad or good.
If all else fails, you can just do what I do and watch a new anime or play a new video game that teaches you a really great life lesson. I hear bedtimebossing.com is a great place to get inspiration.
