Hey there!
This week’s post is brought to you by my friend Sierra LaDuke.
Sierra is the co-founder of Send it Social, an agency dedicated to crafting strategies and content for museums. She’s so fun that she could make Mona Lisa smile.
Drawing inspiration from heroes like Shrek and Jeff Probst, Sierra uses her playful personality to spruce up the digital footprints of brands. But the best part is she’s learned how to harness her superpower to teach herself new things — like Spanish.
Post written by Sierra LaDuke
Picture this: you log into a virtual work meeting, and instantly, the chatter shifts from a lively Spanish convo to plain ol’ English, all because of you.
Yep, that was me two years ago, the sole monolingual on a Zoom screen of bilinguals.
It was a bit of an ego hit, being the one everyone had to accommodate for.
So, I set out on a mission: to study Spanish for one hour a day until I became fluent.
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t a walk in the park. More like a hike… uphill… in flip-flops.
After lots of tripping, I stumbled upon the two steps for learning something new:
Step 1: fall head over heels in love
Step 2: choose courage over comfort
This enlightenment, though, didn’t happen overnight.
Rewind to the fall of 2021. I started with the traditional learning stack: academic modules, tutor sessions, and flashcards.
But every session felt like I was doing chores (the kind you keep pushing to the bottom of your to-do list).
This is probably because my motivation to learn was rooted in frustration and guilt. Plus, studying is kinda boring.
Fall in love
Around six months into my Spanish struggle, a friend's casual music recommendation changed everything.
“Check out Ximena Sariñana,” Raul said over an Instagram DM.
It took one song for me to become an instant fan. What did her lyrics mean? I literally had no idea (lol). But her voice was so beautiful it could be universally appreciated. It’s like Norah Jones and Dua Lipa had a voice-baby.
I dove into her music, transcribing lyrics, singing along with bad pronunciation, and making playlists with similar artists.
You know when you have a new crush, and you can’t stop thinking about them? It was like that. I constantly had a Spanish song stuck in my head.
There I was, captivated by conjugations. I had fallen head over heels in love with the Spanish language.
In the book, “The War of Art,” Steven Pressfield gives a litmus test for passion by posing the question: “Would you still do what you’re doing if you were the last person on Earth?”
This makes the reader distinguish between ego and genuine passion.
Even in a deserted world, I bet Serena Williams would still be playing tennis, Gordon Ramsey would still be scream-cooking, and I’d still be poorly singing along to Spanish bops.
Learning doesn’t have to be about staring at a textbook for hours. That’s what education used to look like. But we’re living in an era of bottomless content, accessible in every language. On the Internet! For free!
Why not immerse myself in Spanish versions of all the things I love in English?
This realization is when my learning routine took a 180.
I found this Chrome extension called, “Language Reactor” that helped me learn vocab by watching Netflix. Hours evaporated as I dissected every word from shows like “Made in Mexico” and “La Casa De Las Flores.”
I also changed my language settings on TikTok and my algorithm became a window into Latin America, showing me its trends and news.
Courage > comfort
After several months of cozy, screen-bound learning, I stepped out into the real world.
I started going to bilingual yoga classes and joined a virtual Spanish film club. And let me tell you, speaking a new language to real people? Absolutely terrifying.
On Netflix, whenever I got stuck, I could press pause and do a quick Google search.
In these real-life settings, I would still get stuck and “pause” but then I’d just stare blankly, like I’m playing a game of freeze dance. Brain empty.
It’s now been six months since I joined the film club, and every Thursday, as 6 p.m. approaches — the meeting start time — I find myself wanting to bail. I dread the thought of stumbling through another conversation and exhausting every last brain cell in the process.
But skipping means missing out on Leon, an 85-year-old student from Atlanta, who never fails to steer our conversations toward deep existential topics like religion and politics.
I would also give up the rewarding buzz I have after class. It’s like a post-mental-workout high.
Sure, I have to deal with the discomfort of being bad at something, but in the process, I’m forming real friendships and feeling my comfort zone grow bigger.
Two years ago, if I had been offered a magic fluency pill, I would have snatched and swallowed it without hesitation. I thought it was all about crossing the finish line fast.
But now, I see the beauty in the journey. Success isn’t just about becoming fluent; it’s about the personal growth experienced while striving for fluency.
I continue to be inspired by this saying I glued onto my vision board last year:
“Lo que vale la pena, nunca será fácil.” Anything worth having won't come easy.
Two years in, it's still a daily push towards embracing the challenge.
But it’s not just about working hard; it's about loving the work every step of the way.
To anyone embarking on learning something new, whether it’s a language or another skill, I hope you find joy in the process and embrace the ride, bumps and all.
So here's to New Year’s Resolutions that aren’t just goals, but adventures in personal growth.
❤️
— Sierra
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