Sarah Schnitker

And so I think this is just a great example of how

courage and patience play out in real time.

And that if we try to escape or rush through pain, we won't actually achieve our goals.

But that pain is sometimes a signal that we need to stop.

But sometimes we have to be patient with pain and persist through it because it's necessary.

I'm thinking of childbirth, just how many women who have gone through the labor process would know this acutely, that there are some forms of pain that are good and need to be worked through, but that doesn't make it any easier to wait it out and continue moving forward during that process.

Yes, you know, patience is essential for learning.

And I do see students often want to rush to get there.

And instead of saying, oh, this is taking time, this is something that's difficult, or this is something that must be really worthwhile because it's taking me so much time to understand it.

I think some of their first responses, this is taking me time, means either it's not worth the learning.

or something's wrong with me.

And I should be able to learn this quickly, especially some of my brightest students.

They can struggle with this the most.

And so I do a lot of conversations, especially with my PhD students, the best and the brightest who have been able to learn so much already to just normalize

That learning anything difficult is going to take you so much more time than you realize it will.

Especially for learning a skill like writing or advanced mathematics or really any skill that really requires expertise.

It's going to take you a while to get there.

And that is not a signal that you don't have what it takes.

It's a signal that this is something worthwhile.

This is a fantastic idea.