Don't wait any longer to start enjoying the good stuff

Welcome to September: A new month. A new school year is here. A new season is coming.

We're here, in this moment. Still breathing, through the smoke in the air (California) or through our masks (COVID-19).

The question I have for you right now is...

Are you enjoying the journey?

Or are you waiting.

Waiting for this year to be over. Waiting for a vaccine. Waiting for a change in the White House. Waiting for whatever is causing you stress, whatever anxiety you feel, whatever it is you're worrying about, to go away first?!

Coaching, Your Best Bilingual LifeNikki BannisterSeptember 4, 2020Social Distancing, Social Media, Positivity, Authenticity, Priorities, LifeComment

How to know if you're doing it right

Do you ever feel like people get the wrong impression of you?

Last week, one of my closest friends told me, "Oh, I feel like I know everything you've been up to lately," because she has seen my stories on Instagram, which I tend to use to highlight any time I spend in nature or exercising. This isn’t really a ‘strategy’…it’s just what I tend to take pictures of on any given day!

Her comment struck me as particularly weird from someone I thought should know better - she knows some of my most personal struggles - than to think that was all I'd been "up to lately", and yet...

I get that a lot - especially in our newly 'socially distant' world.

Coaching, Your Best Bilingual LifeNikki BannisterAugust 28, 2020Social Distancing, Social Media, Positivity, Authenticity, Priorities, LifeComment

Living Your Best Bilingual Life...in the time of COVID-19

Finally, with my 4-Step Guide to Living Your Best Bilingual Life, I found a way to happily marry my two lines of work and offer it to new students: a way to reach your language goals, and how to apply the work on a deeper, whole-life level.

Then, two days after I sent the last step of the guide out to the NBLC eCommunity, disaster struck: lightning and thunder storms lit up California in the midst of a record August heat-wave and sparked myriad fires across the state.

On top of the coronavirus pandemic, ongoing calls for racial justice and reform, and an emotional presidential election, 2020 had brought us devastating wildfires, evacuations, and power outages, months ahead of “schedule.”

Around me, I heard people say, “Nothing can surprise me anymore.” A friend told me she was ready to drive 20+ hours across multiple state lines just to get away from what she saw as “the cherry on top, but in a bad way.”

I realized the evolution needed to continue, because how can we talk about living your ‘best bilingual life’ in the midst of the sh*tstorm that is 2020?!

Why context is essential to life and language learning

Last week, I was out on an evening walk with my husband, and I was frustrated.

I ranted and raved as we went around the park, so much so that, when we completed our normal lap, I insisted we do another so that the walk could accomplish its purpose: to allow me to quiet my mind before going back home.

I run an online business, which means I’m often, well, online.

If left to my own devices, I’m sure I’d still be utilizing social media and google in my personal life, but as it’s part of my overall marketing presence and where I hope to connect with potential language learners looking for a breakthrough in their journey to fluency, I purposefully spend a healthy portion of my day engaged with various social media and online outlets.

Like most things, it’s a blessing and a curse.

How Much Can Change in a Year

I have changed so much over the past year, both inwardly and outwardly. I can’t wait to live out more of my best bilingual life in 2020.

I feel like I experienced so much of my life, like I was TRULY ME, in the last six months of 2019 that I lived more than I have in the last five years combined, ALL while doing what I love.

Are you living your life, really living it, not just letting it pass by? Do you feel like you get to be fully YOU?

What will your best life look like in 2020?!

Recommendations, Coaching, Your Best Bilingual LifeNikki BannisterJanuary 7, 2020English, Spanish, Change, Growth, Year in ReviewComment

Celebrating 2018: Success in Review (and how to achieve your goals using grammar)

I love New Year’s: it’s one of those special times where self-reflection and goal-setting seem to come naturally, and I hear all kinds of inspirational stories from others doing the same thing.

I also love champagne, and I love celebrating! So please grab a glass of your favorite sparkling beverage, and cheers with me!