“If you’re always biting off more than you can chew, you’ll never end up swallowing.” This quote by Marie Forleo caught my attention because when it comes to my life, it’s true – literally and metaphorically.
When I was a little girl and going to preschool back in my native Bulgaria, I had a hard time finishing up a meal in a reasonable time (it would usually take me an hour or more). Of course, this was a nightmare for my preschool teachers. They were taking care of many kids at the same time, and it was harder for them when one of the kids (always me) was sitting at the dining table while others were already taking a nap.
One day, as I was once again the last kid at the table, one of my teachers lost patience. She looked at me, her lips tightened up, and she started walking in my direction. I knew that something was gonna happen – something that I wasn’t going to like.
My teacher came to me, she took my spoon, scooped some food (waaaay too much food), and quickly stuffed everything that was remaining on my plate into my mouth. There was so much food that I almost began choking. Not only couldn’t I chew, but I could barely breathe. I don’t remember what happened after that, but I think I must’ve ended up spitting everything out.
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But this works the same way when we talk metaphorically about biting off more than we can chew. When we take too much work or want to learn way too much in a very short time, exhaustion inevitably follows. I often see English learners getting frustrated with their “slow” progress because they want to learn everything at once. But learning a language takes a lot of patience and repetition. We often have to repeat one word, phrase, or a grammatical rule quite a few times until we get it into our system.
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Do you also bite off more than you can chew or are you a very patient learner? Let me know in the comments.
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Amazing. Even though I can have some appearances of being patient, I do have that tendency of biting off much more than I can chew, in the name of hardworking.
I realize that ordered steps are better to take than any sort of precipitation.
Thanks a bunch, Daniela.
Yes, totally agree. Sometimes we need to slow down and do one thing at a time. Thanks for the comment :).