Update 02/04/2023:
What I’ve been up to:
So, I’ve continued working through Kanji from Zero purely because most of it is little games and short tests of memory and recognition as well as stroke order or its writing out the same kanji and compound kanji enough times to remember the stroke order and I can do all this mindlessly between calls when working from home. I’ve also been working through one of the smaller books on connections in Japanese to try to better understand connecting sentences and I can do that between calls in the office or on breaks while still feeling like I’m getting some Japanese into my head every day even if I’m not reading a book.
I’ve also done more of キノの旅 than I expected, especially after struggling so much at the start of chapter 1 with the gun descriptions. However I actually found my reading speed has improved and my kanji recognition is improving much more than expected. All of which is better than I thought it would be and also a bit of a motivation booster since it means I’m not as bad as I thought I was 
Even if I’m not quite sure of the reading, I’m finding that I’m very quickly picking up the English meaning so can understand the overall meaning of the sentence. I’ve found I’m able to read 2-4 pages an hour now depending on how many words I’m struggling with and keeping a running tab on all the words I’m unsure of has helped when trying to look them up again if they turn up several times in the one chapter. I’m now part way through chapter two at this stage and I’ve actually covered more pages than expected and also found I know a lot less words than I thought with around 330-340 unknown words in the first chapter alone.
I have however picked up some words just by reading and looking them up or trying to remember them when I come across them which is certainly helpful and I’ve also found that I have read at least a few pages every day, more on my days off since I’m sitting for several hours a few times a day just reading.
Plans for the coming week:
I’m on a long shift this week due to training so my days off have swapped from Monday/Tuesday to Thursday/Friday this week which means less time for me since Thursday I’m doing stuff with Family and Friday I’m doing stuff with friends so less reading time. Also having to commute into the office every day I’m working over the next few weeks for training which also means longer hours and less time to read (might use the commute to listen to more Gackt and Vivid Bad Squad though or an audiobook).
Main plan is that I’ll continue reading through キノの旅 hopefully getting the second chapter completed this week or getting close to it and continuing with Kanji from Zero while working at home if I can. At least it’s something simple and keeps my mind on my studying which also helps keep me motivated.
I’m toying with the idea of possibly re-reading キノの旅 book 1 again after going through みんなの日本語 blue set of beginner books to see how much I’ve improved and that should also give me time to go through re-reading some other books before going back to it to see my improvement. Not even half finished and already I’m looking at what happens once I’m finished the first read through.
After my slip in motivation, feeling disheartened and discouraged by my progress the last few months, this week I’m actually feeling in a much better head space thanks to the support and encouragement from the community here. I appreciate all the help and support from everyone as well as the insight and encouragement that’s kept me going. I know I’ve come too far to allow myself to give up on this (it’s been something I’ve wanted to do since I was a really young kid) so no matter how bad it gets or how demotivated I feel, it’s never something I’m going to allow myself to give up on, however the support and encouragement from Natively community has certainly helped my motivation spring back quicker than it would have had I just been struggling on trying to find a new path alone.
Even though I’m not where I expected to be after studying for this long, everyone here has reminded me that it’s not about how quickly I get there or how easy or difficult it is, it’s about looking at the little details, the small improvements here and there, the words and grammar I can recognise now compared to where I was before and the progress I’ve made. That’s the things I need to focus on and if I find myself struggling with something, take a step back, take another look and either find a solution or try something different and see where it leads.
Thank you to everyone here, I really appreciate your help and support. It means a lot to me, especially when I’m not in a great head space and it’s helped me see through the problems to focus on the solution so I can continue forward. 
).
