The Waddle Dee Study Method—Finding Your Goal

I am RugAr.

I am a medical student at a local national university. I am contributing this as part of the 'To Each Their Own' Advent Calendar project.

For the unique articles by everyone else, please look here.

Now, regarding the main topic of this article, the 'Waddle Dee Study Method,' there is a video I would like you all to watch before we move on to the main text.

It is a short video, so I highly recommend you watch it.
Also, this article has absolutely no connection to any promotional activities.

As you can see, this is the video that serves as the origin of the Waddle Dee Study Method.
In this article, I would like to explain this study method, which is the content of the video, and offer some thoughts on it.

Waddle Dee: The Name Means Small Fry

As background knowledge, I felt it was necessary to explain 'Waddle Dee,' so I will start with a supplement.

Waddle Dee is a small-fry enemy that appears in the 'Kirby' series.
Well, they are like Goombas.
However, they are, after all, as much of a pure small fry as the official sources say they are.

Let me provide a concrete example here. Basically, the Kirby games are traditionally side-scrolling action games where the protagonist defeats enemies while heading toward the goal (the same format as Mario Bros.), and when Kirby 'inhales' an enemy on the way, he can 'copy' that enemy's ability.

But! Even if you inhale a Waddle Dee here!
Kirby does not gain any abilities at all!!!!!!

These incompetent, small-fry Waddle Dees have been establishing a status as Kirby's allies in recent years (and the same is true for many other enemy characters). In particular, Bandana Waddle Dee, a Waddle Dee who wears a bandana and sometimes carries a unique weapon, a spear, has adventured alongside Kirby as part of the ally side.
However, the two are originally in a position where they should be enemies, and they are destined to always be compared to Kirby.
With that in mind, let's move on to the video explanation.

What is the Waddle Dee Study Method?

So, what exactly is the Waddle Dee Study Method? Let's look back at it while referring to the video.

The Waddle Dee Study Method begins by placing a Waddle Dee doll or something similar on your desk.

When we were children, everyone thought they were Kirby.
There was a time when we acted as if we were the center of the world, innocently believing that anything was possible if we tried, and that there would be so many more things we could do when we became adults.

However, at some point, people realize.
That they were only given the role of a 'mob' character in this world.

If you look around, there are endless people just like you, and the protagonist's party is always on the other side of the screen. It is easy to say that you should just go there yourself, but it is hard to do, and you have absolutely no idea how you could get there. And so, you spend your days aimlessly just like that.

You make eye contact with the Waddle Dee on your desk.

Your state is truly that of the smallest of small fries, a Waddle Dee itself.

When faced with such an unacceptable reality, a person's first instinct is to run away.
The Waddle Dee doll on the desk seems like such a small, helpless creature, and it feels just like my own tiny self, so I simply look away.
Unable to bear looking at reality, days of nothing but escapism continue. There is no limit to how long this period can last.

However, a day eventually comes when you have no choice but to accept that fact. It arrives suddenly, bringing with it a certain sense of resignation and emptiness.
I am currently someone who can achieve nothing.
Without extreme overestimation or underestimation, I simply begin to feel that I am an individual standing naked at the gates of the world.

Once you can perceive that, for the first time, you are given the option to take a step forward, in addition to the sole option of escapism.

I turn back to the desk and stare at the Waddle Dee doll.

I am indeed a Waddle Dee right now.
I hated this, I found it painful, and I ran away from it repeatedly.
Even after running around, the situation did not change.

I am still a Waddle Dee, after all. And I will continue to be one.

But, what about that?
I am just a Waddle Dee.
I hate that, and I feel strongly from the bottom of my heart that there is still a part of me that can work hard from here, a part of me that hasn't rotted away.

I cannot become Kirby. Kirby and Waddle Dee are different.
Even so, I want to dream that I can at least become a Bandana Waddle Dee, that I can get close enough to go on adventures with Kirby, close enough to walk by Kirby's side; the part of me that wants to be stronger is right here.

Waddle Dees are weak.
That is who I am right now.
But every time I look at that weak self, a feeling overflows that I cannot end it here, that I want to surpass this version of myself.

People can become strong by perceiving their own inadequacies and weaknesses.
Waddle Dee is no longer just a symbol of my weak self, but a symbol of who I am now, working hard for the day I finally wear that bandana.

The resolve I made today may fade with time, and I may eventually forget its content. However, if I look at the Waddle Dee sitting weakly and nonchalantly on my desk to calm my heart, that passion will surely be revived.

This is the Waddle Dee Study Method.

The Significance of the Study Method

Ultimately, the Waddle Dee Study Method is like a modern version of 'sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall' (gashin-shoutan). However, while that idiom involves inflicting physical pain to remember past suffering, the Waddle Dee Study Method differs in that it draws out the enthusiasm to change from within by observing one's past and present self through the Waddle Dee.

If one could internally analyze oneself and find a reason that makes sense, one would be able to study honestly, but that is quite difficult.
It must be said that it is quite strange to project oneself onto a character like Waddle Dee, who is easy to project onto, in order to pull one's own figure out and observe it more easily.

Also, the good thing about this study method is that you can find the motivation within yourself.
Recently, I don't know if it's out of embarrassment or what, but such enthusiastic and positive emotions are often denied in various societies—such as schools, companies, and on the internet—by being 'sneered at.' People who act cool are fine, but when you genuinely want to do something, having that happen is a huge hindrance, and I would ask them to leave immediately.
The only problem is that those cynics sometimes nest in your own heart. This is difficult to drive out.

That is where the Waddle Dee Study Method comes in.
This study method first forces you to thoroughly understand your current state through the Waddle Dee, and when you can no longer make excuses, it dangles the single bait of 'effort' in front of you. When you run out of material to justify yourself and have no ego left to dress up, you will surely struggle to start running, wanting to create a new value for yourself.

As you continue the Waddle Dee study method like that, there will come a day when you no longer even notice the Waddle Dee on your desk, and the days of simply studying will continue.
And then, one day, you will catch sight of the Waddle Dee again when you least expect it.
By that time, you might look back fondly on the days when you convinced yourself you were a Waddle Dee, or perhaps you might not.
However, what can be said for certain is that even if that Waddle Dee isn't wearing a bandana, when you look at it, you will be able to confirm that you have grown significantly compared to when you first started studying.

Surely, there will be many more days to come where you fail again and again, and realize that you are just a minor mob character in this world.
Even so, when I feel like giving up, I hope I can be the kind of person who can stand back up, dreaming of the day I will wear a bandana.

Addendum: The Taboos of This Study Method

As I mentioned at the beginning, I am a medical student, so I thought I would write down, in a fitting manner, the 'people who should not use this study method'.

This study method is ineffective for those currently in a state of depression.
Since this method is designed to draw out the last bit (?) of motivation buried deep within your heart, it is meaningless to try to extract the passion to 'become a Bandana Waddle Dee!' from someone whose heart is so exhausted that they cannot even muster the energy to try.
In fact, combined with the extreme pessimistic thinking characteristic of such a state, you might end up staring at the Waddle Dee and reaching the sad conclusion that 'if I'm this much of a weakling, maybe I should just disappear...'

As a major premise, there is absolutely no problem with just living as a Waddle Dee.
Waddle Dees are certainly weak, we have no idea what they live for, and we don't even know what they are thinking, but no one blames them for existing. They certainly aren't living their lives thinking, 'I'm sorry for being alive.'

I'm sure you feel happy when you become able to do something, and that is certainly a wonderful thing, but didn't the old you, who couldn't do anything, have a charm of its own?
Wouldn't it be nice if you could think that way?