The summer semester of my return to college just ended, and I’m feeling accomplished. I kinda did something this summer that for years I didn’t think I could do. For a long time, since being a kid, I’ve believed that my command of English wasn’t that great. Spelling, well, where would I be without spell check and autocorrect. Grammar, well, where would I be without a virtual assistant editor and my Grammarly online account. It is one of the reasons I waited decades before attempting to host a radio show and to publish articles.
¿ADIVINA QUÉ PASÓ?
So it was unfortunately natural to me to believe that learning a second language, insert Spanish here, would be impossible to learn given being in my feelings about English. I guess I could hide from it since learning more than one language isn’t a requirement for a good life. However, it is a requirement for any student at the University of Pennsylvania. I think being proficient in a second language is a good thing, but I didn’t believe it was for me. I’m like, I still figuring this English thing out and now, in my forties, you want me to learn a language as part of completing my degree in Economics and Marketing. Not. Gonna. Be. Able. To. Do. It!
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.” Buddha
Welp, this summer I took Accelerated Beginner’s Spanish and aprendí mucho de español este verano! Something I didn’t think I could do. The doubt was real for me, but it turns out the limiting belief wasn’t real. Shout out to my professor and classmates this summer! The picture above was all of us on the last day of class.
Also, I learned some things from being in Spanish class five days a week, two hours each day of class time, homework every night, and exams every week this summer…
1. BULLSH!T
I make up a lot of bullsh!t in my head about myself and what I can’t do. It is normal to do that, and I’m reminded again that it is possible to not let it stop me.
2. EVERY DAY
Doing something EVERY DAY for two to three months leads to progress and results. What would you work on every day for the next two to three months? Reach out or comment below and let me know because things get a little more real each time we share.
“That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Today the wheels are turning in my head about what would be possible if I worked on something else every day for two hours each day. What progress could I make on writing my first book, improving my fitness, or taking my biz startup to the next level? Stay tuned!
¡Que tengas un gran día!