If life in 2020 were a movie, what part would you play?

Would you be the comedian, making sarcastic comments and bringing humor to the darkest of scenes?

Are you the best friend, providing support and encouragement to others?

Or are you the main character, valiantly struggling on the hero's journey against the obstacles to reach your happy ending?

Today I want to invite you to step into a new role.

When it comes to your story, you are not just a character.

You are the author.

What are you looking forward to this month?

If you're like me, when you picture the holidays and the end of the year, you picture a cozy, sparkling scene: you're in your pajamas on the couch, reading into the late morning. You don't have anywhere to be but where you want to be. Your work is done. There's a crackling fire in the fireplace, and a hot cup of coffee in your hand. Later, there will be champagne, dinner with family, and movies and snuggling on the couch. Loved ones surround you, music fills the air, and life is distilled to it's best essence.

You're relaxed. You're content. You're overflowing with gratitude and joy.

End scene.

Now, welcome to reality: it's the beginning of December, and I'm already feeling behind. This is not unusual.

Do you feel extra stress around the holidays and the end of the year?

It's so normal.

Are you acting or reacting?

Our reactions are natural, instinctual, and often subconscious.

They're normal and even healthy to have, like removing our hand off the hot stove before our brain has even realized it's hot.

But they're meant to be short-lived. They're meant to interrupt us enough to bring our attention to what's just happened, so that we can consciously create a plan of action.

Are you staying stuck in the reaction?

If I were to ask you how you were doing right now, would the answer be, "fine"?

I was feeling "fine" at the end of last week when I met with my book club virtually (we're an international, multilingual, anti-racism book club, so pandemic aside, we meet on Zoom!). Our leader, my friend Hanna, started us off with a quick check-in, ice-breaker style question. Her prompt to us was,

What was the high point and the low point of your week?

And it got me thinking.

I have a confession, mis amigos.

I originally drafted my blog notes to you this week on life and language learning about finding ‘your happy place.’

I wanted to remind you that no matter what your lifestyle, no matter what you are naturally most passionate and excited about, you can successfully learn a second language and live your best bilingual life.

"Welcome to your happy place."

"When you're doing what you love, it all works for you."

Then, quite suddenly, my personal happy place I was writing from changed as the skies in California (and much of the rest of the West Coast) clouded over with a depressing new weather system created entirely by smoke and ash from seemingly countless, raging wildfires.

I’d already shared with my students that an hour of conversation practice does more good for your second language acquisition than a whole week (or month, at that!) of using a language app or computer program.

So it was funny to come home and see this article, How you talk to your child changes their brain, on just that!

Español abajo~

A week ago I went to the Los Lonely Boys with Bang Data concert at the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma. I already knew about LLB as they’ve been really popular ever since the 2000s (with their breakout single Heaven) and since one of my best friends is their groupie (Ok, fine, super-fan.), but I’d never been to a concert.