There’s nothing in life that comes without putting in the work.

Every skill takes hours. You just need to put those hours in, there’s no other way. And do not believe anyone who tells you otherwise.

When you are younger, you tell yourself that person A or person B are just more talented at music or languages. With age comes the understanding that, regardless of natural predisposition, effort is what truly matters.

Consistent, daily focus. Even five minutes is better than nothing. There’s no shortcut.

So after this week, which was a rollercoaster between “I will never be able to do this” and “I might… I can… I am doing it, damn it“, one thing is clear: either I keep pushing until I am fluent, or I might as well give up now.

And well… you know how I deal with giving up, right? I don’t. Not at all.

It matters, otherwise I would not be doing it! It keeps your brain sharp, so that’s that. And it will make my kids happy that we speak the same language. So I don’t really need anything else.

My kids are Dutch, so I will speak Dutch. Simple as that, even if there’s not a simple thing about this language.