Personal Growth Lessons From Playing Pokémon

I have so many good memories involving Pokémon. I grew up watching the television show, collecting the cards, and playing the games. It might even be what inspired me to design my own made-up creatures as a kid (it was my goal back then to make more than Pokémon had, and, not to brag, but I totally creamed them). I would daydream about being a Pokémon trainer. I had so much fun playing Pokémon Stadium with my brother and friends. Pikachu was a go-to in Super Smash Bros, and I was completely obsessed with Pokémon Snap (it combined my 2 favorite things at the time: Pokémon and photography!).

With Detective Pikachu coming to theaters and the announcement earlier this year of the new starters for Pokémon Sword and Shield, I was feeling extra nostalgic. As I was reflecting back, I realized there are many analogies we can make from the Pokémon games to real life that can teach us lessons about personal growth.

Click here if you’d like to watch the video version of this post

Know Your Strengths & Weaknesses

We all get tired of having to skip through the same basic introductory information explained over and over in each Pokémon game because I think everyone gets by now that water beats fire. But can you imagine playing the game without knowing which type has the advantage over which type? You might occasionally stumble into choosing the best Pokémon, but you’ll likely lose most of your battles. Unless if your Charizard is crazy leveled up, he’s likely not beating that Blastoise.

Likewise, in real life it’s important to know your own strengths and weaknesses. We each have a unique set. You might be able to stumble through life with a few moments of accidental success, but you could do far better if you enter in with an awareness and understanding of yourself. My whole blog is centered around this concept—the KEY to personal growth and goal success is a growing understanding of who you are and learning how to apply that knowledge. “Know yourself, grow yourself.”

Sometimes Growth is a Slow Grind

So much time is spent in the games just walking through tall grass and fighting wild Pokemon to slowly level up your own.

Walk around the tall grass, fight a Pokémon, walk around, fight a Pokémon, walk around, fight a Pokémon, walk around, fight a Pokémon, walk around, fight a Pokémon, walk around, fight a Pokémon, walk around, fight a Pokémon, walk around, fight a Pokémon, walk around, fight a Pokémon, walk around, fight a Pokémon. Go to the Pokémon Center to heal your team. Rinse. Repeat.

It’s a grueling process. The higher the level of your Pokémon and the lower the level of your opponents, the longer this process takes.

Personal growth sounds great and all, but it’s not always some big “ah-ha” moment that changes your life in an instant. It can often be a slow…tedious…draining…even painful process. It’s not always fun. It can take a lot of monotonous work. BUT that doesn’t mean you aren’t growing. Your hard work is worth it.

Big Challenges Can = Big Reward

Sometimes in the game you get tired of the grind, and you decide to just go for it and take the risk to fight the gym leader even though your team is not yet leveled up to where they should be. Perhaps you even send out a Pokémon that’s much weaker than theirs, but, hey, you have the type advantage. You take the risk of your Pokémon fainting, but if you manage to beat your opponent, you’ll gain a TON of experience and level up like crazy!

We may not like to face hard challenges in life, but the truth is they’re the biggest opportunities for growth. In the moment it may seem overwhelming, terrifying, and hopeless, but if you can manage to make it through you’ll gain so much experience and level up like never before!

The Older You Get, the Harder the Challenges

Have you ever gone back to visit old towns in a Pokémon game and found yourself being able to totally annihilate any wild Pokémon you ran into? It was such an odd experience because the first time you traveled through there it was a challenge, but you’ve leveled up a lot since then. What was once a difficult feat is now a piece of Oran Berry pie. As you proceeded through the game, you weren’t the only one who leveled up—so did your challenges!

Remember when you were younger and you only had to worry about homework or not embarrassing yourself in front of your crush? Or even earlier when picking the right crayon color was the hardest battle you’d face all day? Times have changed. You grew up…but so did your challenges. Now there are bills to pay and other worries of adulthood that make your past challenges seem like nothing. Your challenges may seem stronger but so are you.

A Great Team Has Different Strengths & Weaknesses

Unless if you’re going up against a gym leader that has all one type of Pokémon, then it’s best to have a well-rounded team so you can be better prepared for anything.

It’s important to have a like-minded friend(s), but if ALL of your friends are just like you, you will all have the same blindspots and weaknesses and be held back from growth. Having friends of different personality types challenges us and helps us to grow. Where one is weak, the other is strong.

Sometimes You Need the Help of a Friend

There are some Pokémon that you can only get by trading with a friend who had the other game. Unfortunately I was never able to get those as a kid because I didn’t have any friends who I knew also played Pokémon. You can still enjoy the game without trading, but you’ll never be able to get those last few Pokémon to fully fill your Pokédex.

In life there are many things you can grow in on your own, but there are some things you’ll never be able to fully understand or learn without relationships with other people. Some of the greatest lessons I’ve learned and biggest growth I’ve seen in myself happened because of an interaction with a friend. We also need each other. There’s only so much you can do on your own.

Growth May Look Different for Someone Else

Umbreon, Flareon, Vaporeon, Espeon, and Jolteon all look very different and have unique strengths and weaknesses, but they all evolved from an Eevee.

Don’t compare your growth to someone else’s. We each have our own story and we’re different people, so our journeys may look different from each other. Someone’s growth may look different from yours, and that’s ok. Focus on your own journey of growing into the person YOU are meant to be.

Some People Choose Not to Evolve

Now in the Pokémon games, stopping your Pokémon from evolving was sometimes part of a strategy to learn certain moves…or maybe you just liked the way it looked, but in real life a person doesn’t level up as well when they keep themselves from evolving. There’s no growth. They’re just stuck and refusing to change for the better.

You’ll Meet People Along the Way Who Are Crucial for Your Journey

In the Pokémon games you have to make sure to talk to certain people along the way because some of them have important items (e.g., HM Flash, Cut, and Surf), Pokémon, or lessons to give you, some of which are even crucial for your journey.

In real life we also meet people who benefit our lives greatly, such as teachers, parents, mentors, friends, and role models who influence us, teach us, guide us, inspire us, give to us, or impact us in a way that really helps to mold us into a better version of ourselves or push us forward in our journey. I know I owe a lot of who I am today to those who positively impacted me throughout my life.

There’s Always More to Learn & Opportunities to Grow

There’s alway a new region with new Pokemon to discover (how long do you think they can keep it going?).

A lesson we can learn from this is that we, too, have so much more to discover in our selves, about others, and in our world. Our story of growth is a lifelong journey.

---

Gotta Catch ‘Em All!

Did I miss any Pokémon lessons? Share in the comments below! Also I’d love to know: what’s your favorite Pokémon?

Click here to read the introduction to this new series, A Geek’s Guide to Life.