Buondì.
I think it’s fair to say that most people who know me would describe me as an industrious person, usually busy doing something, not prone to sitting around.
Vegetating, for example in front of the TV, is not really my thing. I like to be achieving something!
And yet, lately… perhaps because of the pandemic… I’ve been feeling rather… well, lazy!
As if I can’t be bothered. As if writing long articles first thing on a Friday morning was too much trouble.
My goodness, that’s disturbing!
This has been going on for a couple of weeks now, and I think I’m closing in on some sort of solution.
What to do if you’re feeling lazy?
Beh, people have told me for years, and I never gave it much credence, but yes – taking a break actually works!
Not the vegetating type of break, mind you. The doing something different kind of break.
For instance, I’ve been spending way too much time recently unsuccessfully trying to improve my chess. My ‘rating’ is unchanged, despite my best efforts, but I have managed to stop fretting about the horrible business problems that are, in any case, beyond my control.
And as mentioned on Wednesday, I’ve been sorting out my new smartphone and reading the articles in French, Spanish, and Swedish that it tells me are deserving of my attention. A few of them each day, at least.
Insomma, I’ve temporarily put aside the quest for forward momentum in whatever it was I thought I wanted to be successful at before I started feeling unaccountably lazy, and am now diverting myself with other things that stimulate me instead. At least temporarily.
And the lanaguage learning lesson is?
If you have a portfolio of things you do to improve your Italian (go to a class, study from a book, use an app or website like OnlineItalianClub.com, read and listen to EasyItalianNews.com, etc.), it could be that shifting the balance between those activities will help you maintain your interest: read/listen more while studying grammar less, for example. Or the opposite, who knows? Try making some changes and see what happens.
If you don’t have such a portfolio, well perhaps creating one would be a good place to begin?
But remember: sometimes there comes the moment to chuck it all to the winds!
And then, assuming you can overcome your idleness, to seek out new ways forward.
A lunedì.
P.S.
Here’s a final reminder about this week’s HALF PRICE ‘easy reader’ ebook, I Malavoglia.
Giovanni Verga’s classic novel of a struggling family of fishermen is one of the best known works of Italian literature from the nineteenth century.
FREE Sample Chapter (.pdf) | Full version, just £3.99! | Catalog
P.P.S.
Thursday’s FREE bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news is anxiously waiting for you to boost your Italian comprehension skills by reading and listening to it…
