Learning English
is kind of a mess

and that's exactly why it's worth it

✧ june 17, 2026 ✧

I'm gonna be honest with you.

I've been learning English for years—and I still freeze when someone asks me "how's it going?" in a grocery store. My brain goes blank. My mouth forgets how to make the "th" sound. I just stand there like a deer in headlights, holding a bag of avocados.

“Fluency isn't about never making mistakes. It's about making them and not running away.”

So if you're reading this and you feel behind—like everyone else got a manual for English and you didn't—I see you. I am you. And I want to tell you something that took me way too long to figure out.

📔

Dear me (and you),

Yesterday I said "I am boring" instead of "I am bored" in a meeting. My coworker laughed. Not in a mean way—in a human way. And then she said: "You're not boring, you're just tired. Same."

And that was it. No judgment. No red pen. Just two people connecting over a mistake.

Things that actually helped me (not the stuff teachers tell you)

• Talking to myself in the shower — like, full conversations. I argue with myself in English. It's weird. It works.
• Watching the same episode 7 times — first with subtitles. Then without. Then with my own voiceover. I know every line. So what?
• Texting my friend who also messes up — we send each other our worst typos and laugh. Community > perfection.
• Reading out loud to my cat — she doesn't judge. She just purrs. Best audience ever.

🗺️ where I'm at (and it's okay)

68% comfortable · 32% still terrified

👤 My friend Mariana (from Brazil)

“I used to avoid speaking because I sounded 'ugly.' Then I realized: my accent is my history. Now I speak loud and proud.”

She taught me that beautiful isn't about sounding native. It's about sounding like you.

✧ ✦ ✧

The thing I wish someone told me

You don't need to master English. You need to live in it.

Mastery is a myth. It's a moving target. But living—that's real. That's ordering coffee. That's making a joke that lands. That's crying in a second language and still being understood.

💌 So please, please—stop waiting until you're "ready."

Saudade (portuguese, but we're stealing it)

A deep emotional longing for something or someone you love, even if it's not gone—just distant. Like the version of yourself you're becoming in English.

So here's my messy, imperfect, completely unsolicited advice:

• ✅ Speak before you're ready.
• ✅ Make beautiful mistakes.
• ✅ Forgive yourself for not knowing the word for "lightbulb" (I still don't).
• ✅ Laugh at your own chaos.

💬 Tell me one mistake you made recently. I'll share mine first:
I said "I'm constipated" instead of "I'm congested."
In a meeting. With my boss.

With all my wrong tenses,
Yours,
Rosa

✧ P.S. My cat just walked over my keyboard and wrote "jjjjjjjj."
Even she's learning English. You got this.