Language Learning: The Secret Power of a Rough Start
How frustration, inconsistency, and indecision are good for you
September 19, 2021, 1:01 PM Mérida, Mexico:
I closed my laptop and walked outside to the sunny courtyard of my dingy hotel. I had just completed my first-ever Finnish lesson, a glimmer of hope in an otherwise purposeless life. The Yucatán heat and humidity immediately hit my numb overslept face. By the time I walked outside to the street, I was already sweating buckets.
I was a burnt-out digital nomad. The short 15-minute walk from my run-down hotel to my favorite restaurant felt like a huge ordeal. I just wanted to feel “less hungry” and not “go through the motions” of ordering food any more.
It’s amazing how just a couple of months prior, showing up to my Spanish class in Mexico City felt like a magical experience. The street trees felt alive as the breeze rustled through the leaves and tried to knock our Spanish papers out of our hands.
I would arrive 20 minutes early to our Starbucks meeting point and practice my “restaurant ordering proficiency” Spanish. After my first few sips of coffee and feeling the initial caffeine tingles, I would turn around and scope out an empty table.
