S6E14: It really isn’t just you

Full transcript:

Good morning, happy Thursday and welcome to the Language Confidence Project, the daily dose of language courage for people who love languages and those who really don’t, but have to learn one anyway. And today, I just want to pop in to remind you that even if it looks like everyone else is taking all of this in their stride, it’s not that they are. It’s just that most of our struggles are invisible.

So much of what’s hard about language learning is in the thoughtscape. It’s silent, it’s invisible to the outside world. There are clues. A sigh, a furrowed brow, a sitting lower in your seat, but how much of it do we really see?

Behind the wall of their faces they’re thinking the same thoughts as you

Oh, this is interesting!

Why is it taking so long?

So how do you get into flow state? Why can’t I concentrate?

This should not be this hard

What if I don’t get the grade

I should have started so much earlier

I’m wasting time

I’m bad at this  

You just can’t see it. But it’s there.  

If you could stand up in a library and do a poll of everyone else in there, and ask “how many of you have had this thought, today, this week?” I bet there wouldn’t be one single one that nobody shared with you. That would get you just a sea of blank and slightly concerned faces.

Studying is hard. Going for big goals is hard. Working alongside your thoughts, is hard. None of it means you aren’t good enough or deserving enough or working hard enough. It’s just an invisible part of the journey that surrounds you like the wind.

You are not alone in your struggles. And from the outside, most people are probably looking at you and wondering how you do it all without the constant frustrations they have.

Have a wonderful day, check out my YouTube for more colourful and daily messages of language encouragement, and I will see you back here at 7am tomorrow.