How I overcame the fear of learning something new and embraced the joy of learning
Tags: webdev, beginners, programming
Published: 2022-11-30 04:51:35

When I first started learning how to code back in 2020, I struggled a lot with learning the basic concepts. I would often beat myself up for not learning things quickly and questioned if programming was really for me.

Fast forward two years, and I am now working as a developer and enjoy learning new concepts every day. In this article, I will walk through my initial points of fear and the steps I took to break through to the other side of joy.

## Why was I scared in the first place?

Before being a developer, I was a professional musician and had spent most of my life in music. Ever since I was a little kid, I was always involved with some sort of performance, festival or other musical activity. Over time, I became very comfortable with my skills and enjoyed tackling new challenges.

When the pandemic hit, I started learning how to code and this was the first time in a while that I was struggling to learn something new. Every time a new challenge would come up, my first tendency was to walk away from it. At the time, I think I was scared to try because if I failed then that meant I wasn't supposed to be a programmer.

But then I realized that the struggle was part of the learning process. I thought back to when I taught music lessons and my students would struggle with learning a new passage. I had to remind them that struggling to understand it now was part of the process and that they were on their way to figuring it out. I had to take those same words and repeat them back to myself.

Once I started to embrace that part of the learning process, learning how to code became less stressful and started to become fun. I found myself sticking with a problem longer and feeling that sense of accomplishment when I finally figured it out.

## Steps I took to break through the fear of learning new things

One of the things that helped me was to find a passion project I was interested in and start working on it. I would come up with an idea and then try to figure out what technologies were needed to build the project. I made sure to start with small projects and take baby steps in learning new things. After a few months of practicing this skill and getting outside of my comfort zone, I started to embrace learning and felt empowered to keep going.

## Does that fear still come up today?

Of course! :laughing:

Right now at work, I am learning a whole lot about GraphQL and Apollo Server. There is a ton of new information being thrown at me with this new project but I am trying to embrace the process of learning. Every ticket I pick up is an opportunity for me to learn something new. Even though I will get stuck on problems and will spend time working my way through them, it feels good to get on the other side and figure it out.

## Conclusion

When you are starting something new, it is completely normal to feel anxious about unfamiliar territory. My advice is to take a deep breath and take one small step at a time. Remember, every bit of struggle is one step closer to learning something cool and arriving at the point of joy :smiley: