S3E20: When things are harder, rest is even more important
Full transcript:
Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to The Language Confidence Project, the daily podcast for those who love languages, and those who really don’t, but have to learn one anyway. Language learning is a long and quite often really fulfilling journey, but sometimes, we can feel a bit lost, so I’m here every weekday to remind you that you’re not alone, you can do this, and you’re doing a fabulous job already.
All this week on the Language Confidence Project, we’ve been talking about ways of approaching brand new things and dealing with all the doubts and frustrations that come with it, and so, as we round off this week, I have one final reminder for you.
It doesn’t matter if you didn’t get it this week.
It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t all click into place by Friday at 5pm.
Let yourself have your weekend anyway.
When we’re doing new things, and we’re navigating all this new territory and learning everything from scratch, it can be so easy to turn up the pressure and to try to force yourself to get the answers as soon as possible, and I get that. I think quite often, cdrtainly for me, it’s born out of the logic that the sooner I figure it all out, the sooner I can get out of the discomfort.
But here’s the thing. The times when everything is hard, the answers won’t come, nothing seems to make sense and we’re frustrated are the times when we most need to take regular breaks.
And not just, stop what we’re doing and worry about it in another room. We really need the recovery time. So as we go into this weekend, let it go. My own mentor, Meg Kissack, once recommended to me that if something is hanging over me like that, I should write it on a piece of paper and physically shut it away in a drawer or a cupboard. Or even better, something you can lock theatrically with a key.
But whether you go down that route or not, if you think you’re likely to slip back into worrying that all this is waiting for you on Monday, be really intentional with your break. Set yourself things to do to occupy your mind so you really do let your brain have a break too. Maybe go back to doing something familiar and comfortable that you can get lost in. Maybe watch things that make you laugh. Go somewhere where you can walk in nature or soend time with people so you can’t ruminate. And on Monday, when you come back to it refreshed, it won’t feel nearly so bad.
Take that weekend, language learners. You’ve earned it.
And before I go, just a reminder that I’ve just started my 100 Conversations project, where I would love to speak to 100 listeners of the Language Confidence Project, to meet you, to hear about how your language journey is going, and to find out what carving your own path means to you. It’s a really informal 30 minute Skype chat over tea or coffee or whatever beverage you should like to bring, it’s completely free, nobody’s going to try and sell you anything, it really is just a chat, where we can just hang out and chat about languages. If you would like to book a call, I have a calendly link in the shownotes, and it’s also in my Instagram bio at @teawithemily.
Have a wonderful day, have a wonderful weekend, and I will see you back here on Monday.