Level 5 was such a shock, for some reason, that it made me stop for almost a year and a half.
I love Japanese and I really wanted to get back to WaniKani!! 
Today, a year and 5.5 months later, I finished level 5!
I worked hard for 3 weeks and managed to do it. The WaniKani team sent an automatic email, saying congrats and mentioning that many users go crazy in levels 6-10 lol, I hope I can do this!
I will share my journey here to be a part of the community and more accountable for my actions 
Good luck!! I took many breaks and have restarted many times when I was around level 6. But if you keep going it will get better!
Edit: Also want to say keep doing or start doing some grammar!! The sooner you start doing that and then joining the book clubs the easier it gets and more fun!
Congratulations!
May the rest of your journey to level 60 (and also the rest of your Japanese journey in general) go smoothly and without such burnouts. But if it happens again – remember that while it’s obviously best to avoid falling altogether, the really important thing is to be able to stand up again after you fall.
I’ve made many falls and it took me whopping 8 years to reach level 60, but I did it, becasue after each fall I kept standing up. As a result, I’m finally able to read my favorite manga in Japanese without much issues 
So, best of luck with your studies; hopefully, you’d be able to get ther much sooner than I did! 
Language learning isn’t a smooth ride, there always are going to be big swings in confidence and motivation. Try to tune that out and keep the routine going. Easier said than done, I know…
Hi there,
Thank you for this! 
I study on Duolingo and Preply as well, but I am still a beginner..
Do you know how/where can I join a book club that fits my (basic) level?
I would recommend reading this post first: Absolute Beginners Book Club // Now Reading: My Love Story!
There are some good links there to read too. Also maybe start at a easier manga like ( Happiness or ちいさな森のオオカミちゃん ・ The Wolf of the Small Forest book club! 🌳 (Absolute Beginner Book Club) And use the threads from the weeks. They often explain and you can ask question whenever!
This gives me hope!! Thank you
The absolute beginner book club is… well, what is says. But don’t hesitate to focus on WaniKani for the first ~20 levels if you prefer, having good kanji foundations will boost your reading significantly.
Btw I havent used Preply myself so I do not know how they are. But many people love these videos Tokini Andy Genki 1
He follows the Genki books which are often praised. But you do not need to buy them. I have the books but I mostly just watched his videos. If you get through the 6th first chapters in Genk 1 you should have a good basic knowledge for starting to read. I loved his Genki 1 and Genki 2 videos (N5 and N4 ish) and now im watching his intermediate Quartet videos
Also have a look at this extremely comprehensive post if you want inspiration for things to experiment with: From 0 to Reading Everyday: Step by Step and Comprehensive List of Resources
This post is old and may have broken links but is an excellent list to start your browsing.
:,3 I had a super long pause around level 35 or something. But yeah picked up again and then was able to get back to daily practice and now I made it up to level 60. Sure, I was way slower as people, who were really dedicated and did Wanikani daily and never fail out, but in the end I still made it and it helped a lot in my Japanese journey.
Hey, I’m a few days behind you in getting to level 6! But I’ll be there very soon.
All these motivational and helpful replies are great but I’m gonna CRUSH you 
I’ll get to level 60 in no time at all. And you 
will too, but not before me 
…unless… nah… 
Good luck!!!
Competitive and friendly like Inosuke 
good luck for the both of us!!
Glad to see you here, whenever it gets hard, don’t shy on sharing it with us. Shared is half and all 
がんばって！
Been stuck on lvl 6 these past 80 days too
I hate to correct someone in their own study log, but your title is inaccurate.
A broken person does not come back and overcome adversity. Level five may have bent you, battered you, read Vogon poetry at you, but you’re here and level five is in your past. the future is bright, the water is warm and the drinks are delicious.
Then this is where you get a real proper welcome! You’ve found a great place to be, with a lot of supportive and dangerously interesting folks here on a similar journey. Don’t feel like you need to be accountable to the community or pass some bar, just figure out what your goals are, and then do whatever you think is best to help you reach those goals. It may overlap with some of us, it may be entirely differerent, but if it works for you that’s the gold standard. But just coming back and not letting your inital obstacle truly break you is perhaps the best skill you can learn - now you know you can do it, just keep believing and progressing and you’ll be reaching your goals in due time.
Congratulations for making past 5 after a little over a year! I’m almost at 5 and this gives me a bit of in site and hope 
I did that with level 4 and took a very…very…long break (that I do regret) because I could have been so much further now. But, I made my way back, restarted completely over, and I’m back at level 4 and almost through with it. A break will prolong the journey, but sometimes you just have to take a break when the mind calls for it. Good luck from this point forth!
Congrats!! 
Just levelled up to 6 as well. I really found level 5 harder than the previous ones too. I expect 6-10 to be harder, like the Wani kani email said, but I believe we can all do it
Everyone on this post at similar levels, good job so far and keep going!
Level 6-10 might be somewhat harder, but don’t sweat it. The main thing is to develop a daily routine, as long as you can keep working on WaniKani daily you’ll make progress. It doesn’t matter if it’s 15 new lessons (very fast) or 10 reviews per day and only new lessons when you feel comfortable with it. It’s much easier to keep progressing with that daily routine. Once you stop it’ll be much harder to continue, but not impossible as the OP proved with 3 weeks of hard work.
kepler_kingdom:
Today, a year and 5.5 months later, I finished level 5!I worked hard for 3 weeks and managed to do it.
Congrats @kepler_kingdom on continuing your WK journey. I hope you can now sette in a nice daily routine that you can stick to. I’m sure you’ll agree that way is much easier!