hey everyone welcome back
obviously judging from the title you can
probably tell what I'll be talking about
today I'm not going to go into detail
but I've been going through a bit of a
hard time recently I'm really struggling
to eat and to concentrate but I don't
want you guys worrying about me I am
fine and I'm working through this some
people on tumblr have asked me if I ever
feel inadequate when learning language I
compare myself to others and I think
these are all really natural human
emotions but we need to learn to keep
them under control
and I'm not saying that depression is
something you can just get over once you
need to seek professional help and
sometimes you just have those days where
it just kicks in worse than others and I
didn't want to bring attention upon
myself I don't want you guys to feel
sorry for me I don't want you to worry
about me but let me jump right in so how
do I cope with feelings of inadequacy
how do I cope with I really don't use
the word depression it doesn't define me
in any case this is a long intro of so
first of all language learning does not
define me the way my feelings do not
define me
I am defined by my identity in Christ I
am the Christian and what I find really
helps me is just to refocus my identity
on who God made me to be it says in the
Bible you're fearfully and wonderfully
made and like for the god of the
universe to say that now I am fearfully
and wonderfully made didn't you before
you were even born before your parents
are even when God knows about you and he
he knew he can accounted the hairs on
your head I mean that changes every day
he is all-knowing and omnipresent and he
loves us so much and that is where I
base my identity I do not base my
identity in the number of languages I
speak in the number of countries I've
lived in the number of YouTube
subscribers I have that is not me and
that is why that is what I'm trying to
use to help me cope with feelings of
inadequacy in language learning because
if I know where my identity lies I don't
need to try and depress people I don't
need to try to learn 20 more languages
just to add it to my CV it is it is not
something that defines me
but I do have to be honest we all have
these days where we do feeling that we
are humans who compare ourselves to
others and that is not healthy and like
I've said in previous videos that video
about motivation you you should compare
yourself to your past self and see how
you can improve from yourself do not
compare yourself to others some people
did comments and say but you know that's
good motivation if you compare yourself
to others absolutely by all means have
people have people success motivate you
but not bring you down and make you feel
bad about yourself
I do feel inadequate in language
learning sometimes and that is because
recently I haven't had the energy to put
effort into studying and that's okay I'm
only doing this for myself I'm not
learning languages to impress people I'm
I'm learning languages because I want to
communicate with different people which
is why language learning is not a race
for me there's not a competition doesn't
define who I am
language learning should be fun and
relaxing to me personally sometimes I
just need to refocus and see where my
identity lies and what is really
important to me and it gets really
helpful to make a list of what you value
and what is important to you and see
where language learning fits in that
because sometimes you can put so much
pressure on yourself trying to learn to
learn in there
just be better and better and better and
you get burnt out mentally uh list for
yourself what is most important to you
what do you value in your life is it
your family do you value safety and
security do you value precious
relationships and love what is most
important to you not physical things not
the amount of language books you have
not the amount of languages you can
speak if you make really really lofty
goals and you say but end of this year I
need to be fluent in Xyz language and
you've had a slug and you just cannot
get out of the Fed and you cannot study
you are going to be more upset more
angry with yourself that you're not
achieving these goals that you set for
yourself I am very competitive
within myself and I said extremely high
standards for myself and that can be
really harmful to yourself because you
keep punishing yourself and bringing
yourself down for not accomplishing
those goals and for not being as good as
you want to be but you are good enough
you are more than good enough look at
your progress how far you've come this
is actually why I don't make language
learning schedules so many people have
asked me what's your language schedule
like how many hours do you study a week
I don't I really just try and fit
languages into my daily life where I can
by chatting to people watching videos
listening to music I do not have a study
schedule because I know it doesn't work
with my personality schedules do work
for people doesn't work for me because
it doesn't make me feel good when I
cannot check off and write hours and the
converse times so I do not count the
amount of hours I spend studying
language I do not tell myself to study a
certain amount of chapters per day and
this is not to say that I'm so cool like
I'm so great I don't need guidance and
rules like that not at all it is my
dream to finish all these text books on
my bookshelf but what I'm trying to say
is I have moved away from extremely
focused goals when I'm going through a
hard
right now because I need to love myself
and to take care of myself by taking
care of myself
it may mean to remove some priorities
and if that means taking it easy and
taking a break from language learning
then so be it
so yeah this video was a lot more somber
than my other videos and I think a lot
of you can relate I don't think I've
said things very clearly in this video
but I just wanted to get it off my chest
and to let you guys know I am okay I'm
taking it slow and I'm really focusing
on taking care of myself and I promise
I'll be back with a very positive and
happy video again and I love you guys
and you mean a lot to me so thanks guys
I'll see you in the next video Hey
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