Last week I had the worst week of study since I started my new structured study plan in June. The good news is the cause is not burnout. The bad news is it’s related to bigger mental health stuff that’s going to take me a while to work through. I’m not great at relaxation/recharging. I can do individual days well, but like, I try to vacation for a week and I’m a disaster by the end of it. Ugh.

On the positive side, I finished a page of listening notes in my notebook and it felt really good to see:

Here I’m jotting down timestamps for stuff I’m struggling with and then go back over it with the transcript after I finish the podcast episode. The tactile notebook and pen gives my brain something to fidget with while I’m listening, and that might have been the magic key for me. I feel pretty good about it now, and if I were testing for N4 in December I’d be in great shape, but alas, I’m aiming higher. There are another 100+ episodes in this series and I might do them all. The great thing is, once I go a step higher than this podcast, there will be tons of content available to flip through and the conversation will be more interesting.