When I'm in my everyday routine, doing what I always do, things feel easy. Oh, there's the occasional snafu, the little unexpected hindrance. But when things are running smoothly, it's easy to forget how hard they were when you started.
My kids sometimes need help with homework, and we watch them struggle with things that seem so simple to us. Trying to teach them how to deal with frustration is particularly hard when we forget how that feels—which is why the past few months have been so helpful to me.
As I've struggled to learn new software and new skills to put together my website, I'm remembering that "dumb" feeling. I know that's not politically correct, and I'd never say that to my kids (or to anyone else), but that's just how I feel! It's uncomfortable, and I don't enjoy that feeling. I want to feel competent and knowledgeable. But how reasonable is it to feel competent and knowledgeable about everything, all the time? My world would have to stay really tiny for me to keep that feeling. So to make way for any growth at all, I guess I have to get used to feeling "dumb" and sticking with things through that feeling. I have to remind myself that as Thomas Fuller said, "All things are difficult before they are easy."
When you're frustrated by things, what helps you to stick with them?
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