How has the show positively affected your life?

[RainboomCrash 173]

I thought this would be an interesting topic to start. The title says it all really: in what ways has My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic positively affected your life?

 

For me it has done two things which I can think of:

1. It has taught me the power of forgiveness. It used to be that once you crossed me that was it, you were dead to me, but now I feel that I better understand the importance of forgiving people. My dad was an alcoholic and I lived in an abusive household until my mum kicked him out when I was 12. I have forgiven him in my heart (I haven't met him since I was 13 though, and I don't know if I will as I'm unsure what value it would add to my life).

2. As someone who has chronic depression I find it hard to find things in life which I truly love. MLP is one of them.

[Glike 487]

Well before MLP, I wasn't the happiest person around. I kinda found it hard to trust people, but once I started watching the show some of the lessons really spoke to me.

[spezzzzzhdafuigb 49]

Well it opened up a huge door for me to find new friends and is one of the few fandoms I'm actually part of. It really has lessons that alot of adults in the modern world can use, and is a great break from the raise-your-dongers blood-and-guts media that is everywhere these days. Also it's something to look forward to every Saturday, and when the seasons over the next year! Really can help get you through school!

Edited May 12, 2014 by Cheesythumbs

[Scootalove 10,689]

Before I was a fan of the show, my life was going down a depressing spiral until the show came into my life.

Edited May 12, 2014 by Scootalove

[Eloquence 2,076]

I really like this topic! I think MLP has done a lot for me as a person, but for the sake of not going on forever i'll just pick one especially important thing.

 

My Little Pony gave me a character I could relate to. Growing up I was extremely shy, and I'm definitely still not the most vocal of people. Throughout my life, the media I've consumed has always approached shyness in one of three ways. They ignore it completely, make it a cute little quirk by removing every trace of awkwardness and essentially making the character a soft-spoken extrovert, or have the character "just get over it" before they're allowed to be appreciated as an actual human being and not just a character flaw. Getting over it, I might add, was always shown as an easy process that anyone could do if they put in any effort at all.

 

Then I met Fluttershy, and she fully lived up to her name. Watching her meet Twilight was uncomfortable, even almost painful, but also showed us right away that she was more than her shyness, and that is what she has been consistantly throughout the series. She is a shy introvert who has improved overall as a character while retaining this facet of her personality, and that is extremely important for introverts to see. Fluttershy serves as a reminder that it doesn't make me pathetic if i struggle in certain social situations, and that I don't have to be a boistrous extrovert to acheive my dreams, or to have friends who love and respect me for who I am. She made me feel better about who I am in a way that no other character has.

[takai 1,060]

Before the show, all I really had was anime and video games. It wasn't bad, but having a completely different hobby from those two made life better.

 

However, My Little Pony is so fun, and happy, and positive. It just brought so much joy and happiness into my crazy/meh college life. Not just the show, but the community as well. You're all so nice, friendly, and understanding. This is coming from a guy who spent the past 4 years dwelling within the hateful, spiteful, and terrible anime community. My Little Pony was a breath of fresh air, and continues to be so for me.

 

I still love anime, but it stresses the living hell out of me arguing day in and day out with people. All they ever try to do is one-up each other calling everyone's taste "shit".

 

So yes, My Little Pony has had a very positive and relaxing effect to my life. 

Edited May 12, 2014 by takai

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

Mmhmm.

 

It gave me a character that I could not only relate to, but hold close to my heart and look at for inspiration

 

She's like me in many ways; from good aspects to flaws. I've had some tough things I've had to overcome in life, whether it be my fault or not, but I look at Rarity, and I see a bit of myself in her; and if she can overcome her problems, so can I. She gives me strength, she gives me inspiration...she's given me happiness, in a way, and I love her dearly for that

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

The show has helped me and affected me positively in many ways, mainly before I watched I felt alone and suffered from some depression feeling odd and like a outcast, I also couldn't find any friends that shared common issues and common problems as me and couldn't find a group I could relate to on so many levels, since watching the show I have found many friends who like me were lost or were looking for others like them. Not only is the show great, story wise, song wise, character wise, and moral wise, but it's a show that has helped many deal with problems and fears they have inside them. The sad thing is people don't accept those who watch the show and are quick to judge, but if we stick together we'll always have one another.

[Techpony (Inactive) 75]

It got me to use Twitter (something I never thought I would use) since I interact with my fellow bronies mostly on there. It also had the side effect of making me more social.

[Delernil 952]

It's given me happiness really.

 

Even if only for 20 minutes I get a bit part of happiness and just get to ignore the fact that people are dicks to each other. It also opened up the brony community to me. The only part I regret, of course, is meeting Makusu (nah I luv him). But it's sort of an odd thing where I feel accepted, and that the world isn't shit. It reminds me of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, a show I fucking love, as well as having Fred Rogers being one of my heroes.

 

To be honest, it has just made it better. I can't say I'm more accepting or kind, but it has made me happier and feel better about myself.

[Zekromic 1,054]

-Well, it gave me a future to look forward to

-I doubted myself all the time, but now, I don't and I'm no longer afraid of my flaws and others calling me out of them

-I know what I want in my life, without others telling me how to do it

-I got motivation to do exercise, I lost over 12 kg in fat in less than a year

-Got strength to not let my parents make me feel bad about myself

-I appreciate true friendship, but I also learned to not feel bad being alone if true friendship not available, despite what others tell me

-Motivation for graduating university, without the failures letting me down

-Wisdom, and the true meaning of personal strength

-Self love and respect, since i can't find it in others

[SCS 7,485]

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has helped me enormously for years, and continues to do so. The show pretty much rescued me at a point in my life where I was turning to darkness and anger. I'm not a saint by any means, but I'm a lot more tolerant and understanding of people now than I was in the past, I don't get angry as easily, I have better self-control, and I do my best to have empathy and to do what is morally right. MLP also brings me comfort and peace, and helps me to focus on the good in others and the world as opposed to the bad. MLP is also one of the fundamental forces driving my spirituality. I'm not religious, but I do have spiritual beliefs. One of the main aspects of my spiritual beliefs is the importance of focusing on good, happy, and beautiful things, to not only fortify yourself against evil but to make yourself more effective at helping others in a positive manner.

[Magnum Flare 553]

The show have teached me that it's great to be different and the community has opened my mind of how flexible masculinity is. The show also brings the biggest smile I've had.

 

Indirectly, a ponyfic "Why Am I Crying?" justified the doubt of should I forgive my enemies of the past or not, which is we should.

Edited May 12, 2014 by TheShyPony

[Adorkable 2,737]

MLP has literally bloomed my personality to the fullest. Before I watched the show and became a Brony, this personality I have now was locked inside me, until the Magic of Friendship let it burst out and turn me into the man I have become today. ^^

[Frostgage 7,975]

Even if I haven't necessarily learned anything from it, if nothing else, FiM almost always cheers me up when I need it. Also I've made a lot of good friends here as a result of being a fan.

[Sweets 198]

This was less a god-send (like I've heard it is for some p-people) and more of an escape. Right as the show started really taking off, my mother was dying (and then died) from lung cancer (sorry if my plight ruined your happy times). By the time she had passed I had already begun to consider myself a Brony. When she died, I dove head first into it. It made me feel good to be surrounded by people and to watch the show when I was sad. They always had a good ending to their day, and so it helped to have that bit of positivity. in my life at the time. It was my one constant in a world that had suddenly come crashing down on me,. So, this show holds more than a strange obsession for me, it's heled me to escape a bad situation. And now that I'm in a good situation, I can really appreciate it.

[Flakk 65]

It admittedly has shredded my self confidence to shreds, though I guess that's not the shows fault. I would have backed out of MLP but in the end I liked it and not watching it anymore wouldn't stop the fact that I did.

[yeet 2,026]

before i got into the fandom i was kinda douchey to a few people at school, but ive seen that having friends is a great thing through the show and i have a much more positive and friendly personality. though not completely friendly.

[Silvershock 69]

If I'm being honest, this show changed my life, twice. Incoming ramble!

 

Firstly, when I lived back in the UK, I didn't have the greatest social life (though I do still have a few really close friends from there). Aside from being generally viewed as a bit weird, I'm quite susceptible to paranoia, and living on my own as I did amplified its effects. I ended up quite down and quite ill, not really going out, feeling generally uneasy pretty much all of the time.The insomnia from my childhood returned, and I would stay up late at night just trying to find things to occupy my brain - coding, gaming, cartoons, etc.

 

One night someone from America in an IRC chat sent me a link to the new MLP, and I watched half a diozen episodes straight. It's weird to describe the effect, but the show was like pure joy, all bright colours and devoid of cynical restraint. I'd come down on a morning before work and throw an episode onto my TV from my network share, and it'd fill the room with colour. It...helped. It wasn't the only factor, but it helped me get over myself, helped me realise what I was missing. I started to push myself out of the door more often, force myself to leave and not worry. I went back to hanging out with the local furries, made a ton of friends, had a ton of laughs. I realised that I'd been stagnant in my ambitions, too, so I applied for the move to Canada I always wanted, and I got it!

 

The second time the show made my life better was once I got to Canada.  You have to understand, when I walked off that plane, I had nothing. Two suitcases of clothes, my cat in a carrier, and my laptop bag. Nothing else. Not a single thing. I didn't know anyone, I didn't know where anything was, and I wasn't sure what to do next. I met some of the local furs, including my now roommate, and started looking for somewhere permanent to live. And then I figured, "there's got to be bronies in this town, right?"

 

Holy shit...are there ever bronies in Vancouver!

 

I've never met such a welcoming group of people. I made a whole swathe of new friends, almost instantly. We started hanging out every single week, laughing and shouting, finding fun things to do and chaos to cause. I got involved in BronyCAN, I worked for them to help make it a fun event, and it was brilliant. Before I knew what the hell was going on, they'd handed me the reins to the convention! I was blown away. I even met my girlfriend through the brony group, and we're dotty for each other.

 

So yeah, being a brony really changed my life. I went from a fearful, upset recluse living in some hellhole town in England, to a happy and confident (if still kinda rant-y) guy living in a great city, in a better country, with great friends. When you get right down to it, those guys are why I run BronyCAN. I don't deserve to be this fortunate, so I want to throw all my friends one massive pony party, to say thank-you, for everything.

[Tabe 216]

Whenever I think of MLP, I get some serious goosebumps and it just makes my whole body go warm. I am happier, brighter and for some reason ALOT more social than I was before.

 

I can listen to the music from the show all day and when I drive home in my car, it have become a tradition for me to listen to Proud to be a Brony by BlackGryph0n and sing along, very loudly. I don't care if People hear me, I'm happy and that's my goal in life.

[Discordian 6,015]

One way or another this forum (spawned from the show) has really helped my debating skills. Before I came here most of my debates ended in me getting shunned or made fun of. Between talking to certain people, witnessing the amazing debating skills of others as well as getting into a few easy-to-manage debates (as well as some hard ones) has just generally improved my linguistic, reasoning and argumentative skills without looking childish. Not completely anyway.

[Carbon Maestro 1,003]

I think it rekindles optimism, much like Star Trek TOS does.

 

The fanbase being positive has a profound effect on others, and this optimism is indeed good.

[Guest]

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Edited November 2, 2016 by Darky

[King Sejong 859]

   For me this show has rousted my imagination, from once I was at an impasse now I have inspiration to write music and draw artwork again, although I am still learning vector art and animation on Flash, I have written music before so I feel I can compose and post my efforts on YouTube all inspired by MLP. The most positive aspect however, if the fact that now I am a part of a larger community, that would accept me as I am, thus I follow suit, it really is great to have friends again, I had recently attended my first brony meet up and I had a grand ol' time, I plan to go to future brony meets and ultimately BronyCon and Everfree, yet the significant affect is the fact MLP has helped me to overcome my anxiety and depression, it is really positive that multicoloured ponies interacting in their realm can have such an impact on people, I am certain that the show will continue to move me in a positive direction, as such I welcome MLP-FiM to provide greater zeal on me and the rest of the bronies.     

[Jeric 46,848]

It is bizarre to think anything on TV could have any impact on my life. Literature and music, yes. Cartoons? a few months ago I would have said no. I was Lois Lane wrong.

 

My teenage daughters 'recruited' me. This was their passion. It has now become a rather unexpected avenue to bond. In the past I have taken interest in shows, writers, hobbies ... but it was always with a motivation that good parenting includes being aware and taking an interest.  MLP has become something of a shared experience, but one that I out and out enjoy. The saccharine truth is that it has deepened my bond with my kids.  Even if their interest in this show dies, there were moments we shared talking about the show. We anticipated the finale together coming up with increasingly insane outcomes. I even spent some time teaching one daughter the basics of Flash Professional CS6 and the other how to outline a story (they both want to make something Pony related.) Every moment counts, and this show created some that otherwise would not have existed.

 

Also,  I started to think that we were (as a society) dealing with a creative void. The art, music, games, writing, etc. created as a result from this show has shown me I was way off base. Most of the artists are young and have the talent and who knows what they could do. MLP: FiM may be a catalyst for another golden ago of animation due to its inspiration.