Pandemic Depression

Well…
Screenshot 2020-10-06 at 14.45.36

When I’ve been on WK over the past few months I’ve just been doing ‘review maintenance’ - not really learning much at all and even then struggling to get to the bottom of my reviews. But I pushed through a few days of veryl ow motivation, doing 80-100 at a time, until I finally got into a groove and was able to clear out my pile. I just learned my first new set of kanji since the spring!

I get it though - it’s difficult and if you want to keep learning then it can really be a misery. The worst when clearing out a review backlog is messing up many many items in a row and falling into a spiral of self-doubt. But it’s just the uglier side of the SRS doing its thing. If you can keep going through the downturn you can eventually have them stick in your brain again.

On the plus side, during my break I have done some reading and also a bit of anime with JP subs as well as conversing with a couple of friends!

Good luck with whatever approach you decide is healthiest!

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We’re in the same boat. I managed to keep up my Japanese for a while, since we were doing iTalki lessons and they’re virtual and they didn’t stop with the pandemic, so I had a little pressure to keep going. But man, my office closed so I was at home every. single. day, and then I started to have to tell my very recently adopted foster daughter, “no, you can’t go see your friends. No, you can’t go to the mall that’s still open for some dumb reason. No, you’re going to have to do online learning for the last quarter of school” and having all kinds of fights. We had a couple of expensive, AWESOME trips scheduled and they obviously got cancelled. The depression/ennui/apathy hit hard. Stopped doing all kinds of things that I normally did. Then WK took a hit in July and I just got back to it like a week ago, and very similar boat (1000ish reviews, don’t remember what I was doing. Frustration. Ugh.)

There are all those stories of people who started baking sourdough or took up super artistic hobbies, and I sat on my butt on my couch and consumed more Netflix in 6 months than I normally do in 6 years. I’ve just recently started to have little bouts of feeling normal-ish, and I think it’s because it’s fall. I’m used to being inside more when the weather starts to turn, so maybe it feels less oppressive to be inside as much? Or maybe it’s just acceptance finally? Who knows. :woman_shrugging:

Coming back to WK and having 1,000 reviews is SO hard, especially when you don’t remember a thing! So proud of you for coming back and sticking with it. Cheering for you from my own little forced imprisonment! :rofl:

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Same boat. Only in Florida it is still really hot here in Fall. I WISH it would cool enough to enjoy being outside. That would be SO nice!

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I’ve been wanting to study Japanese for a while but it’s only after the lockdown I decided to work on it seriously.

More time because of no transportation (i was working from home) , but I felt mostly too depressed to study.

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I’m sorry. And it is a little hard in the beginning. Just keep it up! I have to say the forums are really helpful for any questions you may have or discussions about pronunciation or grammar.

As far as being too depressed to study, I completely understand! This whole thing has really y affected everyone all over the world. Just try your best. That’s all you can do!

Oh! And welcome to WaniKani!!! :books:

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:scream:

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Ohhhhh my god, congratulations!!! That’s amazing!! You must feel amazing right now. :smiley:

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I did. This morning when I woke up I had a ton of reviews added, but that’s okay. I’m regular now and can get through it!!!

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This actually happened to me again… :cry: Months wanting to do Wanikani but lacking a desire for anything. It was like a second wave of pandemic fatigue for me. I’m back and on it! Working on remembering a lot of things and going back through and resurrecting some things. Look at the reviews! :flushed:

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