if you can let the discomfort sit beside you without throwing you off course — then you eventually arrive at something worth keeping: a skill, a practice, a piece of yourself that would never have existed without the awkwardness in between.

there is also value in ritualizing the awkwardness. if you know that the middle will feel like stumbling through mud, you can almost welcome it. you can make tea before practice, light a candle before writing, put on the same playlist before studying. these little rituals soften the discomfort into something familiar. the body begins to associate... See more

the strange thing about the discomfort of learning is that it often feels lonelier than it is. we assume everyone else is already ahead, already fluent, already talented. but if you scratch beneath the surface, everyone is hiding a pile of drafts, failed attempts, notebooks filled with illegible scribbles. the discomfort is universal, but it feels... See more

learning demands a temporary surrender of pride. you can’t learn while protecting your image at the same time. you have to allow yourself to sound clumsy, to look unpolished, to admit you’re not there yet. it feels like loss in the moment — loss of dignity, loss of certainty — but it’s really the ground clearing itself so that something else can... See more

one way to live with the discomfort is to reframe it as evidence. instead of telling yourself “i’m bad at this,” try “i’m inside the process.” the first thought breeds shame and avoidance. the second breeds patience. the language you use with yourself matters because it dictates whether you return to the desk, to the studio, to the practice space.... See more

this middle — the discomfort of learning — is unphotogenic, so we forget that it exists, or worse, we assume that if we’re in it, it must mean we aren’t cut out for the thing.

but the discomfort is not proof that you’re failing; it’s proof that you’re present in the process. when you feel that itch of inadequacy, that awkwardness of not being fluent... See more