Day 1 (September 9)

Hi. Hello. Welcome to my very first series on TwoCents 😅Before I get into this, I want to say that I'm going to try to make this as honest and casual as possible. I don't want to turn it into one of those things where I only show you the days when I was productive and conveniently forget to mention the days when I did absolutely nothing. I also don't want this to feel like a job or make myself believe that this has to be perfect.I don't actually have a very elaborate plan for this. Which is probably obvious from the fact that I just... decided to start.The basic idea is pretty simple: learn a language, draw something, try something new, read a novel, write something, learn something random, repeat.That's basically it.I'm hoping that, over the next 30 days, I can get myself to actually do some of the things I spend so much time thinking about doing.And if you have suggestions for things I should try, please feel free to give me some. I'm very open to ideas because, again, I don't actually have a plan😂I also don't know exactly how often I'll be posting these. I'd love to say I'll post every day, but TwoCents only allows five posts a week, so technically that's not even possible here😭So it might be five times a week. It might be less. Maybe I'll have enough to say on some days and absolutely nothing to report on others. I guess we'll find out together.So...Day 1: Curiosity starts today. LolLanguagesOne of the things I want to explore during this whole Becoming Curious Again thing is languages.I've always thought it was so cool that there are people out there who can move between different languages so easily. And I think about all the potentially cool and amazing people I have not met, and may never get to know properly, simply because I don't speak their language.I don't want English to continue to be the only language I speak.The problem is that I haven't actually decided which spoken language I want to learn yet😂There are three I'm currently considering: German, Arabic and Spanish.German is partly because it could potentially be useful for work someday and partially because I'm obsessed with Maxton Hall 😂 Arabic is because, well... religion. I'd really like to be able to understand more of it for myself.And Spanish...Look, and don't judge me, but Spanish is, high-key, one of the sexiest languages I've ever heard in my entire life. So naturally, I want to learn it 😂 And I also want to be able to watch Spanish series and understand what everybody is saying and be able to gasp at the appropriate time and not a second too soon or too late.Very serious reasons, clearly.So I may end up trying all three before deciding which one I actually want to commit to. Or I may randomly wake up one day and decide I want to learn something completely different.But for now, there is one particular language that has my whole heart: ✨ASL✨For those who don't know, ASL means American Sign Language. There are hundreds of sign languages around the world, just as there are spoken languages, and ASL is the one I've decided to learn for now. Normally, I should be learning Nigerian Sign Language (NSL) but I can't find a single learning resource to help me out. Thankfully, I learned that (some?) Nigerians tend to use ASL and that there aren't a lot of differences so I'm hoping if there ever happens to be an NSL resource someday, there won't be a lot more for me to learn. I actually started learning earlier this year. But life got busy, my siblings got annoying, and I ended up stopping.I tried to encourage myself to keep going, but, to say the least, I wasn't really in a position to try again for a while.And when I finally was, I just... didn't.I got pretty far, though.Unfortunately, months later, with absolutely no practice or memory refresh, I've forgotten practically everything I learned.So now, let's say I'm starting again.I'm using three apps right now: Lingvano, ASL Bloom and InterSign ASL. Lingvano was the first app I ever used and it's excellent, by the way. But I think, for reasons you'd better understand if you used the apps, that ASL Bloom is actually better.At the end of today, I finished about four units on ASL Bloom, which is around 100 new words, sentences and phrases altogether.You may think I'm a little mad for this, but honestly, it's a little addictive once you start.I also did one lesson on InterSign and didn't open Lingvano at all. Why I Actually Want to Learn ASLI've been asked before why I even want to learn ASL.Let me answer the most obvious question first: no, I don't know anyone who is deaf or hard of hearing. None of my friends or family are 🤲I want to learn ASL because of honestly just two reasons.The first is that I don't talk much normally, unless you've somehow figured out the very few topics that get me excited and yapping uncontrollably.But I find it truly amazing that there is a language out there that I can use to communicate without ever having to open my mouth 😩And the second...Once upon a time, I thought I was going to be a doctor. But even though that didn't quite work out the way I imagined, I still feel like I'll find my way into the health sector somehow.I've thought about this weirdly specific scenario an unhealthy number of times: a deaf person walks into a hospital needing help, but can't communicate properly with the healthcare professionals around them.Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think sign language is anywhere near as accessible or widely used in Nigeria as it should be. And I keep thinking about how scary it must be to need medical attention and not be able to properly communicate what is wrong with you.So, naturally, I've imagined myself suddenly appearing out of nowhere, knowing exactly what they're saying, and swooping in to save the day.😂I don't think it's that far-fetched.And honestly, even if I never end up in that exact situation, I'd still like to know another way to communicate with people. Back to today's taskLike I said, I got back into ASL.I've also started looking at the other languages, but I didn't actually do my Spanish lesson today. I started listening to it, stopped, and eventually decided, you know what? Another day.And that's okay.Because the point of this isn't to suddenly become a productivity machine and do seventeen things every day.It's to actually start doing things again. Things that have nothing to do with work, productivity, or trying to achieve some big goal. Things I can do simply because they interest me, make me happy, teach me something new, or just make life a little more interesting.I don't want everything I do to have to be useful or lead somewhere. I don't want to turn every new interest into another thing I'm supposed to be good at, or another thing that makes me frustrated when I don't immediately get it.I just want to learn things because learning is part of being alive. I want to try things because they're fun. I want to make things because I can. I want to be interested in things again, simply because I'm curious.That's what I mean by becoming curious again.So tomorrow, maybe I'll do Spanish or maybe Arabic or maybe German. Maybe I'll draw. Maybe I'll try a new recipe. Maybe I'll read a novel.Or maybe I'll do none of those things and stare at my phone for six hours straight.We'll see. Anything is possible 😂For now, though...Thank you for reading 💕 Day1:<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/1000416981.jpg"/>

Becoming Curious

Referral Earning

Points-to-Coupons