for years, i’ve had a desire to be fluent in another language.

for just as many years, i’ve made exactly zero progress on it.

i tried to convince myself to learn japanese.
i tried to convince myself to become more proficient in german.
i tried to convince myself to learn italian.
i tried to convince myself to learn spanish.

i had practical reasons for – and, i thought, some level of interest in – learning all of those languages. still, nothing ever happened.

last week, in a moment of clarity, i realized why i was procrastinating.

the language i wanted to learn was french, and french seemed impractical.

when i spoke the reason out loud, it seemed so silly. why did i need a practical reason to learn french? why couldn’t i learn french simply because i wanted to?

and so i am. learning french, that is.

no convincing or forcing required.

for me, the act of learning french is an absolute pleasure. everything about it makes me happy.

it’s the best way to learn, really. i don’t know how i forgot this.