How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

Hi everyone—long time no see.

I haven’t updated my blog for a while, except for posting some French learning videos on my Instagram. Recently, I started taking online French classes, and it feels like a fresh beginning for 2026.

For almost two years, I had been learning French on the Duolingo app. But to be honest, my progress often felt slow. I sometimes felt frustrated because I didn’t practice as consistently as I wanted. In my mind, that felt like failure.

At the beginning of this year, something changed. I saw my partner making great progress through her online English classes, and it encouraged me to try something new. In January, I decided to enroll in an online French class immediately. Since then, I’ve completed seven lessons and spent a week after Chinese New Year practicing listening and speaking.

Looking back, I realized that what I once called “failure” was actually part of the process.

Life has been busy—my new semester in graduate school started in February, and my work projects are ongoing. Some days, even a few minutes of practice is all I can manage. But now I see that even small efforts still move me forward.

So maybe failure is not really failure.

Sometimes it’s simply a mirror that asks us to pause and reflect: What am I doing? What truly matters to me?

As March begins, I feel grateful to reconnect with writing and to share these thoughts with you again.

🫟My Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/raine.lrld