Shortly coming back to a life-changing community
What is now already a good couple of years of writing in my life started back in December of 2018. A few months prior to that, I had just started my intentional English learning. Sure, just like most people, I had that class in school for many years. But I was not interested in that; it was not learning. It would be unfair to say that my teachers sucked. They were really fine, in fact. The thing was that I could not understand why I needed another language when I could speak my native language, in my hometown. Apparently, I was just a clueless kid.
Looking at my family circle, there was no person who spoke a foreign language on a decent level. There were also no drastic moves between cities or countries. It was a peaceful life for them, which played out in one place. I guess when you are a kid, you need to have a role model to look up to. It is okay to be clueless and naive. But when there is an example of something good (inspiring), a kid can easily pick up on that. On the other hand, they can also do so on the bad. I am not blaming my family for not introducing me, for example, to language learning at an early age. It is just a fact, something to keep in mind if I am going to have kids sometime.
The reason I started learning English intentionally at the age of 16 was because I wanted to move to another country. I admit my expectations were not realistic. I felt I was not satisfied with what was going on around me though. I viewed the language as a great foundation to facilitate my immigration. Now that I have been living abroad for more than 3 years, in not an English-speaking country though, I can say languages do change the way you see the world and yourself in it.
Using one language everywhere is something only English native speakers can afford. And there is nothing wrong with that. Nevertheless, going through a dedicated process of learning a new language when you are not a kid anymore will leave a strong mark on you. I am glad it has done on me.
This post is supposed to be like a mini tribute to a writing community. But I could not leave out that background. Anyways, speaking of the community, it hosted a 31-day writing challenge every December for many years. I have finished 4 runs successfully. I came one person there. And I left another during my final 4th run in 2021. As my skills had progressed significantly, I found writing long posts every single day for the whole month challenging. My leave was a bit bittersweet, yet I knew it was necessary for me.
Many serious events have taken place in this world since my last run in the event. Not being an active member of that writing community — there were many enthusiasts who I made life-long memories with — I did not honestly follow it afterwards. I believe when I did so for the first time in 2 years, it looked like the community did not exist anymore. Just a couple people wrote their posts without any engagement or anything. It made me kinda sad since I wanted the community to thrive. And I genuinely believed that it had all it takes.
Now it's December again, the month when that writing community gathered around and had fun writing and discussing each others' thoughts. Interestingly, by this December I had let go of most thoughts regarding the group challenge. What a pleasant surprise it was to get an invitation (from another fellow member) to a private group where the community wanted to make an effort to recreate the good old days again. At first, I was a bit hesitant if I wanted to join. It had been almost 3 years since I talked to others there. But I could not contain myself — I decided to join.
I know I cannot keep up with the frequency of posts there anymore. Actually, I am not planning to write any. I think I have found myself in a different role this time. There is one younger person whose sister I have known for a long while (I met her during that challenge too and stayed in touch this whole time). It's their first time. They are just starting out learning English. Despite having initial thoughts of passing by the event completely, I would like to make their first time special. I want to show them support in the community so that they can also discover the power of writing. Just like I once did there too.
Thank you for everything, dear Morefon. I am glad our roads have crossed yet again. With love, yours Anthony :)