I finally decided to write a post on journaly. I signed up a month ago but haven't made a post yet. For some reason it's nerve wracking to put yourself out there and get critiqued by strangers. Though this community seems to be genuinely nice and wants to help one another, which makes it a lot easier to finally take the plunge.

So why would I be nervous to post something on here?

Everyone who knows me personally thinks that my English is incredibly good and that I'm some sort of English wizard.

Guess what, I'm not.

It's great getting recognition for something you're relatively good at, but this in turn creates these annoyingly high expectations you're desperately trying to maintain. Worst case, anxiety kicks in and you're trying to get rid of this unpleasant feeling in the pit of your stomach by procrastinating or giving up altogether.

There is also this looming feeling of Impostor syndrome in the back of my mind. What if I'm not as good as I think, or others think I am? Posting on here would expose the truth I might not be ready for.

This post is an attempt to put a small crack in these mental chains holding me back.

It's okay to make mistakes and it's okay to be nervous about making mistakes.

Nishikata

Language learning and anxiety