[2 minute read] (ESL learners – click on the bolded words to see explanations and notes. Try the exercise at the bottom after! 🙂 )
Love can be found in a million different ways, in a million different places. From dating apps to standing in line at the supermarket, and every place and moment in between. With so many opportunities for it to come up, it can seem flabbergastingly difficult to find.
Personally, I’ve always thought that the way to find love is like finding good music. Often when I’m studying, editing, translating, or preparing for work, I find a really long mix or playlist of music on Soundcloud or Youtube and let it play in the background while I work. Most of the time, the music just creates some pleasant “white noise” droning on in the background, adding just enough depth and color to the silence in order for the wheels in my brain to keep working without nodding off completely or boring myself to death.
But occasionally, something great comes on… really great. So great in fact, that it pokes its way into my consciousness and overrides anything else I was thinking about at the moment. It makes me stop and devote my full attention to this amazing melody and turn the volume way up until it’s blasting out of my little but surprisingly potent UE speaker.
This is how I imagine finding love should be. Not scouring Youtube, looking, at any cost, to find a new favorite song, and trying to make any song that seems passable fit the bill just to be able to say “I’ve found it”. Not convincing myself it’s better than it is, and fighting tooth and nail to fall in love with it. But, something that happens naturally while you’re focused on living your life.
You see, I firmly believe love is something that should only add to your life. Granted, relationships take work. They take commitment and consistent action from both parties, often meeting each other in the middle and occasionally one person coming completely to the side of the other in order to gain a fuller understanding of each other. But, you should not have to change your whole life, personality, habits, or being in order to force that puzzle piece into the right shape. It should slide in effortlessly. If you’re living your ideal life, the puzzle piece should fit right in, and benefit both you and the other person.
While I’m certainly no expert on love or relationships, I’ve found my own experience so far to confirm these thoughts. But of course, there are many different ways to define, understand, and approach love. Do you agree with me? I’d love to hear some more thoughts — share what you think below!
ESL Notes (14 words / expressions)
Definitions written with reference to Cambridge Dictionary
flabbergasting: surprising and unexpected. This is often used as a verb (“it flabbergasts me!”) or an emotion adjective (“I feel flabbergasted”). (Back to the text)
to drone on: to talk for a long time in a boring way. (Usually refers to people speaking. In this case, applied to music which may sound boring and monotonous). (Back to the text)
depth: noun form of the adjective “deep”. (Meaning , the distance from the top to the bottom of something). Metaphorically, it can also mean the state of having serious qualities. (Back to the text)
to nod off: fall asleep accidentally. (Back to the text)
to bore yourself to death: figurative expression which means to become extremely bored. This can also be used with the adjective “bored” — “I’m bored to death”. Can also apply to “scared / to scare” — “You scared me to death!” or “The poor thing was scared to death”. nod off: fall asleep accidentally. (Back to the text)
to poke: to push a finger or a pointed object quickly into something. (In other words, using your hand as shown below to touch something quickly). In my text, I used it metaphorically (the music “entered” my mind as if someone poked my mind). (Back to the text)
to override: to take control over something. For example, pills can override a body’s hormones. Override can also mean to operate an automatic machine by hand. For example, “The pilot realized that the autopilot system was malfunctioning and overrode it” (i.e., he took control of the airplane over the autopilot). Lastly, a person can also override a decision, meaning that the person refuses to accept a previous decision. For example, “Every time I make a suggestion at work, my boss overrides it.” (Back to the text)
to blast: to play very loudly. “To blast” can either mean to explode, or to make a very loud noise. (Back to the text)
potent: very powerful. (Back to the text)
to scour: to search for something very carefully in order to find it. For example, the police can scour an area of land to find a missing person. (Back to the text)
to fight tooth and nail: to try very hard to do something. (Back to the text)
passable: satisfactory but not excellent. (Back to the text)
granted: an expression used to admit that something is true before you say something else about it. For example, “Granted, many horror films don’t make sense until the ending, but they at least provide a few scares along the way.” (Back to the text)
to slide: to move easily and without interruption over a surface. It also refers to the way you move down a slide in the playground (“a slide” is shown in the picture below — “to slide” describes how you move down it). (Back to the text)
Want to start using these words and make sure you don’t forget them? Try this exercise! Think about these questions (discuss them with someone) or write down your answers, using the word or expression in your discussion or answer.
- When you were at school, did you ever feel like teachers would drone on for hours?
- Have you seen any movies or read any books that were enjoyable and light-hearted, but that also had depth? (depth as in deep thoughts, meaning, lessons to learn, etc.)
- Have you ever nodded off on public transportation? At work? At school? What is the strangest place where you’ve ever nodded off?
- What conversation topic makes you feel bored to death when people start discussing it?
- Does your boss have authority to override the decisions you make? Do you have authority to override anybody else’s decisions? How do you / would you feel having this authority?
- Do you ever blast music when you’re in the car? Do you like going to bars which blast music? Do you prefer blasting music, or playing it quietly?
- What do you think is the most potent headache remedy?
- Is there any product that you want to buy, which you have scoured many shops for? (Did you find it?)
- Is there any foreign language you can speak at a passable level?
- Is there any restaurant whose food you find just passable, yet you continue to eat there? Which restaurant and why?
- Do you know anyone who would fight tooth and nail to get people to agree with him/her when there is a difference of opinion?
- Do you enjoy going on slides in water parks?
Feel free to try writing some more sentences, or a text, of your own to practice some more.
Thank you for reading! These ESL notes, links and exercises each take several hours to make, so if you found this useful, the kindest thing you can do is to like the post, leave a comment, or share with anyone who needs it. Have questions about any other words? Leave a comment and I’ll be happy to reply!
LINGUISTIC MUSINGS 