poco a poco

Maybe some of you remember how, when you were young, family friends who you only saw at sporadic intervals would tend to remark on "how much you've grown!". If you remember this than you may also remember looking down at yourself, not unhappy with the assessment, but finding that you could not comment personally on its veracity. You LIVED with you, day after day, and so growth was next to impossible to notice.

The same can be said of any personal developments, really. Take for example my growing capacity to speak the Spanish language. I met up with a Spanish friend a couple days ago, one who I had not seen in three or four months, and while I thought that our conversation got off to a rocky start (he spoke with the rapidity and colloquial vocabulary that is expected of a 20 year old boy... but that made comprehension a bit more difficult for me), it wasn't long before he commented on how much my Spanish had improved.
"Really!?" I said, a touch incredulously, but still not without certain pride,
"Yeah," he replied, "you can really understand me now, and it shows in our conversation".
I couldn't have been happier to hear that.

I think it's normal to struggle in recognizing your own growth. And it's more normal yet to feel that there's still such a long way to go. So when you get too caught up in these frustrations, remember to find a friend who can remind you just how far you've come!