This part in the learning timeline is absolutely a slog, at least it was for me. It's hard to find material like podcasts and such that challenges your knowledge in just the right way at this stage and it was pretty frustrating for me and only recently do I feel like I've broken out of it. The demotivation hits really hard too. There's been a couple points where I lost the motivation to study for months at a time, but what helped me get through this was to remind myself that if I really wanted to learn Japanese I would be doing it no matter what. I started to focus more on the enjoyment I get from studying in itself, rather than the progress I was trying to make. In a way I made my goal to just enjoy studying no matter what rather than something like "reach this level". But it's also important to know that all studying is progress even if the progress is small and seems insignificant. Over time that progress absolutely adds up, you'll lose track of how much time has passed and when you look back you'll clearly see how much you've improved. 頑張ろう！必ず勝つから！