Learning two new things at once: bad idea or good idea?

In addition to learning French at the moment, I am also learning how to play the banjo. I learned piano when I was a child and then had a short stint with guitar as a teen. String instruments DO NOT come naturally to me at all (I miss piano). Why I decided to try another string instrument is beyond me. I love traditional American folk music though and think the banjo is such an amazing instrument. I can't tell yet if learning two new things at once is a good or bad thing. In some ways I am sure it helps my brain to be in learning mode, but at the same time I am probably overloading it as well.

It is interesting to see the similarities between learning a new instrument and learning a new language. Both things are brand new to me, which means I am have the same love/hate relationship to both. I hate being new at something! I feel stressed and uncomfortable when I don't know something. I am used to being good at things and so it is very out of my comfort zone when I am not.

It's challenging when learning something new because it's hard to know where to start and what to practice. It's also hard to find the right resources (ones that actually work for you). And of course it's hard to find the time to practice as a busy working adult.

I don't have the time or money to take banjo lessons right now which means I am self teaching (thank you YouTube and DVDs). At least for French I will have class once a week that will give me the oral practice. I would say finding ways to practice orally (wow that sounds dirty) is the biggest challenge for most language learners, at least if you don't live somewhere where they speak the language you are trying to learn.  It's easy to find resources online or in a book for learning to read & write a

language, but learning to speak means you need someone to practice with. It's especially important to practice with someone who knows the language so they can correct any errors you are making. Finding someone to practice speaking a foreign language with is hard though. My husband knows two and a half languages (English, Cantonese, & some Spanish), but not French. Which means right now the only "people" in my house who let me practice speaking French are my two little dogs...and unfortunately they don't answer back.

The biggest challenge for me when learning something new is having patience! You cannot master something overnight and it can be very discouraging how slow the learning process actually is. You just have to be gentle with yourself and be okay with taking it slow. Ugh that does not come easy to me! Here's to me slowing down and giving myself permission to not know everything!

I proudly claim the title of novice not very good banjo player and French speaker!