Don’t hold back
An unexpected experience during my trip to Chiang Mai made me think about my ex-girlfriend.
Even though my Thai is pretty much limited to ordering coffee or asking for a toothpick, something has changed on this trip. Now people often respond to me in Thai, even though I use exactly the same phrases as before.
The only difference? My pronunciation.
The Thai language has a wonderfully playful, almost childlike, pronunciation. On this trip, I decided to try imitating it. To be honest, it feels both unnatural and strained, as if I'm making fun of their language.
But the response has been absolutely fantastic! I get answered in Thai (talk about shooting yourself in the foot, since I have no idea what they're saying), they praise my pronunciation, ask how long I've lived here, and so on. This despite using the same phrases I have used for years.
Speaking crazy good
This made me think about my ex. When we met, she lived in Germany but later moved to Sweden. She learned Swedish impressively fast! Even though you could, of course, hear her German accent.
Suddenly, as if overnight, she had incredibly good pronunciation. Everyone noticed it. How could she have improved her pronunciation so suddenly?
She explained that she thought Swedes sounded like they were singing when they spoke. With that in mind, she took courage and started "singing" in Swedish. To her ears, it sounded completely crazy, but everyone around her thought it sounded fantastic.
Same same but different
How many other areas in our lives could get a boost if we didn't hold back? A heartfelt blog post, a confident job interview, a presentation where we openly admit that we are nervous.
Perhaps it is precisely by daring to let go of our self-criticism and embrace what feels unnatural that we can reach our full potential.
Let's find out by not holding back!