the sweat of learning
While procrastinating today, I unearthed this luminous gem*:
Confusion is the sweat of learning.
An offering I receive as immediately relieving and encouraging. Because I finally need to learn some maths and statistics. And in principle I reject that it is too hard or too late for me. But... I have definitely fallen into the trap of (mis)interpreting headaches as a sign of inadequacy.
Something softens inside as I imagine relating to future experiences of confusion in the same way that I relate to my physical sweat. Natural. Welcome. Positive feedback of hard work.
If this was the normal cultural understanding of confusion: how much despair might be remedied, how much patience and motivation might be unlocked?
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*Via Hacker News. The metaphor was shared by a professor of computer science at UC Berkeley, Dan Garcia, who attributes it to an unnamed colleague. Article here; it's in the last paragraph.