Quotes from BoJack Horseman to Help us Keep Moving Forward

As mentioned in my intro post, I recently decided to shift to a new career. Starting a new career has been challenging as I had to learn a new set of skills. To be honest, it has been frustrating lately that I have to start over again when I am already in my late 20s. It doesn’t help that I had to juggle this change with motherhood and learning other adult life skills such as driving. Who says adulting is easy anyway?

As I am so bad at finishing self-help books (Atomic Habits by James Clear says Hi👋), I harken back to a motivational quote from a Netflix show that never fails to motivate me to keep going. Yes, it’s the lines quoted above, and it’s my favorite quote from Bo-Jack Horseman.

Bo-Jack Horseman is an animated series about an anthropomorphic horse who used to star in a famous 90s TV show. It is set in a fictional Hollywood (later named, Hollywoo) inhabited by humans and anthropomorphic animals. Albeit starred mostly by animals, it is an on-point exploration of humanity and our struggles.

The tone of the series isn’t exactly uplifting, as you may have surmised from that quote. To be honest, Bo-Jack Horseman is a bit of a downer, but one of the recurring themes that the show tackled very well is moving forward despite the hurdles life throws at you. Throughout the series, Bo-Jack and the other characters of the show were thrown into situations that put their lives at a standstill: the death of a friend, career disappointments, divorce, breakups, managing a career with a newborn, and many more.

This new phase of my life, along with everything that happened for the past two years, sort of felt that way. A roadblock kept pushing me down every time I tried to climb up the hill. Thus, I found myself reaching for the remote to re-watch some of the episodes of Bo-Jack Horseman. Let me share with you some motivational quotes that stuck around during this re-watch. I’m pretty sure some of you will be able to relate. These past two years have been tough for humanity. The world seemed repeatedly struck by crises which include the ubiquitous pandemic and the recent typhoon Odette. Along with it came the loss of loved ones, careers, savings, and dreams. Without further ado, I hope we find inspiration to pick ourselves back up in the following quotes from the show:

“If you care about what other people think, you’re never gonna do anything.”

This line was delivered by Mr. Peanutbutter to a young and frustrated Diane. Mr. Peanutbutter is the most optimistic character of the show and one of his most likable qualities is that he's not afraid to look silly. The line perfectly sums up Mr. Peanutbutter and his key to being successful.

“Believe it or not, time’s arrow neither stands still nor reverses, it merely marches forward.”

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WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

This quote is the motto of Bo-Jack’s maternal family. It was mentioned in a well-made episode that featured Bo-Jack’s ancestral house. Bo-Jack, suffering a tremendous loss, went to his mother’s ancestral house to get away from his happening. While trying to renovate the house with a cantankerous old fly, the show flashed back to a heartbreaking loss in the family, the death of his uncle who died young while serving in the military. This flashback focused on his grandmother trying to cope with the loss of his son. At the end of the episode, Bo-Jack decided to go back to his life in L.A.

As the quote implies it is pointless to mull over the past since you can no longer change it. We can only keep on marching forward. This message was repeated in the last episode of the show wherein Diane told Bo-Jack:

“Sometimes, life’s a b*tch and you keep living.”

“It gets easier… Every day it gets a little easier… But you gotta do it every day–that’s the hard part. But it does get easier.”

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This quote is the raison d’etre of this post. I have mulled over discussing only this quote for this post, but the other selections are just too good not to share.

During the final episode of season 2, Bo-Jack decided to exercise. As someone who wasn’t exactly fit, he nearly passed out from running up the hill. A baboon who was repeatedly shown jogging up a hill throughout season 2 went to Bo-Jack and told him those lines about perseverance. Starting out in anything is difficult despite how easy other people make it look. However, with consistent practice, things can and will get easier.

This quote reminded me of one of my trading mentors. In most of his talks, he consistently hammered to his students that to become a consistently profitable trader, you need to clock in 10,000 hours of studying and actual practice. He called it a trader’s “due diligence”. Yup, that’s roughly 5 years if you practice the craft 40 hours a week. It can be quicker, of course, if you find your edge more quickly and you’re studying the right stuff.

I say that’s pretty reasonable, and it also applies to other professions. For instance, to become an engineer here in the Philippines, you need to finish a 5-year college degree. After that, you’ll spend roughly half a year studying for a board exam and taking it. Afterward, I guess you need at least 2 to 3 years of experience to be genuinely considered a true professional and land high-paying jobs. It really takes a while but you have to show up every day for it to be possible.

However, the quote from the jogging baboon has more meaning aside from persistence. Fans of the show were quick to point out on Reddit and Tumblr that the baboon was shown jogging with an old woman who appears to be his jogging buddy/wife in an episode set around 2007. And in hindsight, the baboon may also be referring to living through the loss of a significant other in their life. But, like Diane said: “Sometimes, life’s a b*tch and you keep living.”

Hopefully, those quotes enticed you to give this hidden gem from Netflix a try. Aside from my husband and my sister, I don’t know anyone else who’s seen this show. I’ve learned so much about life from this show than any other. Bo-Jack Horseman proves that TV isn't just there for entertaining us but also gives us valuable life lessons from time to time. But still, nothing beats actually living our own life and learning from it.