Positive Affirmation Post

[Mercuridi]

@smoltulip

At least in my case, it’s ridiculously easy to constantly be comparing yourself to others who are “further ahead” than you in their studies, or to always be thinking about how much you “still haven’t learned”, rather than how much you have learned. In fact, a few weeks ago, I was so down in the dumps that I almost thought about quitting - a far cry from when I first started Japanese and was so excited from simply learning hiragana. I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I didn’t know, how far behind I was - I had this intense, depressing feeling that I’ve been studying Japanese for so long, and I barely had anything to show for it.

The best way I can explain is, I sort of mentally felt that I had gotten no farther than my first day of learning hiragana. Even though I suppose I knew that I’ve been studying grammar, reading, doing passive/active immersion, etc., I always had this nagging feeling that I wasn’t doing “enough” with my Japanese, that I was still the same person who took all that time to initially memorize hiragana. And how wrong I was!

I mentioned in my own post introducing myself that I had a nearly year-long Duolingo Japanese streak and nothing really to show for it, so I know how that feels! I know you explained you had a realisation that you really could understand Miku’s post, but I think lots of things in life can feel that way, and that’s normal. Everyone does everything at a different pace; lots of people never learn Japanese at all, much in the same way that I’ll never learn to play the flute!

I think part of the trick is not to compare yourself to others so much, as you touch on later. And when you do compare yourself, to interpret others’ progress and ability as a height to aspire to, rather than something to kick yourself about. When I see level 60 flairs around here, I never think “They’re so much better than me” - I usually think “wow, I’d love to be there too one day!”

@smoltulip

In the past year, what have you done, realized, or experienced, that made you feel like you actually are learning Japanese, or getting closer to that milestone you wanted to reach? What made you feel proud, happy, or excited? What made you go, “Oh! This worth it after all!”? It can be the tiniest thing or the largest thing, anything at all!

Despite me complaining about Duolingo, it did actually teach me something. By complete chance, I met someone in my UK hometown on New Year’s Eve who’s spent the last 13 years living and working in Tokyo! After stumbling through a very short conversation, I managed to introduce myself in Japanese and even catch that he wanted to be friends with me (thank you vocabulary knowledge catching “tomodachi”)! Sometimes interactions like that can really remind you how connecting and amazing learning a language can be.