For an hour and a half every Wednesday evening, I am a private English tutor.

My student, Tsubasa, is 26. She just came back from a year studying in New York and wanted to continue her English.

Today, we were talking about how it is difficult to pursue a goal that not many other people can appreciate, and again she baffles me with using metaphors in English better than most native speakers.

I would teach her for free, simply to hear the metaphors and similes that she makes up on the spot (However, I do not tell her this. I simply smile and take her money)

“When you try to do something different from everyone else – like maybe start a business or something – it’s kind of like trying to become a professional high jumper – you know, the kind where they use the the pole (pole vault). And a lot of people, they quit while they are still learning how to run and use the pole — before they get good at jumping — they never even get to actually jump high. If you just push a little bit further, you can try to jump – then you do more practice and you can jump higher. Eventually you are jumping so high, you go over the top bar… No quitting while learning how to run.”

It’s a good thought for the day.