While starting something new is fun—exploring new concepts and ideas, having something to practice and do, and having something to work towards—it is only a matter of time until one day it stops being fun. You go back to what you’re used to doing; for me, it’s scrolling through my phone or lying in bed.
Burnout is not wanting to do a certain thing and even avoiding it; not learning a language anymore because it’s too complicated; and not going to work anymore because you no longer have interest. It’s different from laziness, which is also avoiding something, but choosing not to do anything.
A multitude of things can cause burnout, boredness, jealousy. For me and many others, it’s caused by comparison. I can learn how to draw and create something by my standards, and then I go online. I saw the most stunning drawings, the best covers, the most fluent linguists and the most captivating photos. I try to speak like them, study like them and get results, but I can’t. So, I stop.
I think people lose motivation during the process of learning. It’s scary how devilish the internet can be, sticking something in your face and laughing, knowing you will never be able to replicate it. Comparison is the thief of joy— this is even more true with social media, where people only post their best moments.
But thankfully, I’ve gotten better at just appreciating things. What’s especially helped is having a friend there along with you, learning and helping track progress with you.
When I learned Japanese, I was tired of learning new words and meaninglessly clicking through hundreds of flashcards every week. I had nothing to use it with, I’m usually only watching the occasional YouTube video or reading manga. I was slowly losing interest, studying every day to not even once a week. This was until I met someone Japanese while playing a horror game online.
Needless to say, we hit it off. Despite the language barrier, we still had a blast and hunted ghosts for hours. This motivated me to want to speak more, read more and study more, keeping me back on track.
People tend to focus on improvement rather than enjoyment a lot of the time, especially when learning something new. Of course, people mostly learn things to get better at them, but what happens once you get stuck? It’s like magic—this whole generation has such high pressure placed upon them because of the media: you’re expected to get into a good college, to change the world, to be rich by 30. All this crashes down as soon as you get stuck and you just want to give up because all you’re expected to do is retry, improve, retry, improve and repeat.
It’s alright to stop, to wait for that next spark to light the wick known as motivation. Nothing is forever, so I don’t expect to keep on learning the same language forever or working the same job for the rest of my life.
You can enjoy things. You can get stuck. So take things slowly. The truth is, no one will judge how fast or slow you go through things, so why not take your time? If comparing yourself to others can make you depressed, bored, angry and embarrassed, why do that? Take them as inspirations instead and maybe take a break and enjoy life.
