Learning Chinese is the best thing I’ve done to stay sober and perhaps also one of the best things I’ve done to develop myself.

It requires a great deal of patience and discipline, so much so that I never would have thought it could do it if I’d have known what it would take when I started. As an addict I lacked these skills, but now I can apply them to any aspect of my life, not just language learning.

And in the short term, language learning is also beneficial to sobriety in that 1) you can’t do it if you’re not sober 2) you have to do it every day 3) there is no limit to how much you can do it and 4) the longer you do it the more rewarding it becomes.

So please consider giving language learning a shot if you’re newly sober and looking to fill that void in your life. And if you’re interested in Chinese specifically, let me know and i’ll point you to all the resources you need to go from beginner to native-level media.

*for those interested in language learning in general, I strongly encourage reading about the refold method instead of defaulting to an app like duolingo