It's not elegant or catchy, but I wanna read manga without a dictionary. All manga. I wanna go to the store, take anything off the shelf, and read it. No dictionary. Just me and my brain. I then wanna buy it, and tell the cashier all of this in Japanese. I am halfway there - able to buy a kid's comic book and tell the cashier about it.
Earlier this month Card Captor Sakura Prologue premiered at Anime-Expo. I messed up the seating and ended up too far in to viee the subs. I cried, not only cause I loved the series, but because it turns out I didn't need the subs. When I first read and saw this series I didn't even know what Sakura even meant! Now I can hear her voice and all her friends, and understand them. Little teenage me couldn't do this. Me 4 years ago couldn't do this. But, the me today, could. There's this language that sounded like gibberish at first, and now sounds like another home.
People have many reasons to live, as you can see here, and this is mine. I have a wonderful husband, wonderful grad school program, wonderful classmates, wonderful friends, and a safe home... and in all those places I can continue my journey of reading without a dictionary. It's not hard, but not easy either. I'm just a silly nerd, but apparently silly nerds can actually achieve things even if takes longer than most people.
So, go off and try this out. Pick somewhere or something you cannot understand... and work hard to understand it. Learn about the development of fashion in France, how the Hawaiian Islands were formed, or why abayas are actually quite comfortable in hot weather. Learn every single day, and find something that challenges you. Take that challenge, and try it. Maybe some days you can't, some days you ask why you didn't just study Spanish more since kanji are so hard, and that's ok. Breaks are needed. It doesn't mean your dream is gone, just thst you're still in the dream and haven't achieved it yet. You're not finished yet, and you won't be for your whole life.
I have major depression and this is my motivator.