When Learning Comes Naturally—and When It Doesn't

When it comes to learning, we all know that learning is often encouraged because we've the belief that it's an avenue to grow and become a better and more inclined version of ourselves. However, despite how great learning seems to be, not everyone finds learning easy, and this can be seen even in how students perform in the classroom in some subjects, where you'll find some thrive in a particular area, and when it comes to another, they completely flop in it. I think that's actually normal, and it's probably because they're not built for such. I, for one, am not an exception when it comes to learning and having different outcomes depending on what I'm learning, and today I'll share two such experiences with you, so without further ado, let's get to them.

Starting with something I found easy when I learned it, I can point to when I was learning tailoring and learning how to improve my writing skill. You see, for tailoring I just looked at the craft and desired to acquire the skills, and so for that reason I worked towards learning it, and even though my parents were against it, I still went behind their backs to learn it, and when I finally got the opportunity to learn, I was able to grab it so easily, from learning how to wheel the sewing machine to sewing and then cutting fabric. My teacher even attested to how fast I was learning when I saw what I could do within a short period, and he had to ask me if I had truly not learned about tailoring before from someone else, which I hadn't.

The same is the case when it comes to writing; I actually usually find it easier to express my thoughts with written words than speeches. And even though I didn't learn how to write from anyone, I can say that I've read lots of books and seen how writers choose their words and express different situations, and these have been some of the ways I've developed myself to become a better writer than I was when I first began writing, and with time, writing isn't just all about putting words together for me anymore; now it's come a way I teach, encourage, communicate, and even share my opinion with others. Basically writing becomes easier for me the more I write and practice.

Talking about something that I actually found difficult to learn, surprisingly it's from a field I'm being recognized as an expert in, which is under computer and technology. Being an individual in this field, many would assume you are good at programming. The truth is that I wish I were, but I've tried learning programming and software engineering, but I find it pretty difficult to comprehend despite spending hours trying to understand what it takes for someone else to understand almost immediately. This is usually frustrating given the fact that based on my background in the field, I ought to understand.

Overall, these two experiences have taught me something important about myself, and it's the fact that when you have a natural interest in something, such things make learning easier, and that's because if I enjoy doing it, then I won't mind spending hours practicing it without feeling overwhelmed. Unlike how the things I struggle to understand while learning taught me to be humble and also be patient, why? This has helped me understand that I need to try a new approach, see it from a new perspective, and give it more time. Overall being good in one thing doesn't mean you'll be good in everything; we all have areas where we shine and others where we struggle.

All photos are generated using ChatGpt.