It’s extremely humbling to be brand new at something. The first year of college is literally just months of being brand new, lost, and for the most part dependent on every one else’s patience. I also decided to try a brand new sport and walk onto the rowing team as a novice. If you think being a baby first year isn’t humbling enough, I encourage you to pick up a new sport and then learn new skills in the same boat as some of the team’s varsity members. There’s some stress for you.
While crew is physically demanding, I find most of my struggle is mental. I think constantly, wondering exactly where my body should be at which time or how fast I should be moving in order to keep up with the person in front of me. Sure, I’m slowly developing blisters on both of my hands, and sometimes stairs are a challenge after conditioning, but my mind definitely feels the most pressure after each practice. I’ve studied some psychology, and I’ve learned a bit about equine therapy, so I’m familiar with the idea that brains have little pathways that help us make connections and decisions. Learning new skills can help us make even more pathways, leading to better decisions and probably many more benefits that I would need to read about to really understand. So, I like to imagine that every time I figure something out, whether on campus or in a boat, a tiny pathway starts to form. Scientifically, that’s probably super false, but the image is great to remember when my day might not have gone as well as I had hoped.
What I’ve discovered since the start of school is that I absolutely love learning curves. A learning curve is literally how quickly or slowly someone learns something. And what I like so much about learning curves is that every one is on one. Learning curves are absolutely infinite; everyone just moves at their own pace. Although it’s sometimes hard to believe, professors, coaches, and parents are on learning curves. We learn from our own mistakes and our own successes. Professional athletes are on the same exact learning curves as novice athletes. While they may not make as many mistakes, they are definitely still learning.
I remember one of my classmates in high school talking to a first grader. The first grader asked her what she was going to do after graduation, and my classmate responded with “I’m going to be a student.” The first grader thought it was odd that she was graduating in order to learn more, and my classmate continued to insist that she would always be a student because she will never stop learning. I’m not sure she will remember saying this, but I won’t forget it. It’s extraordinarily comforting to me to remember that we will never stop learning. I will keep reading and keep trying and keep practicing, and even if the majority of my attempts end in failure, I will still be learning. None of my learning curves will end, and why would I want them to anyway? It takes away all pressure to be perfect. If my learning curve ended, where would I go from there? If I were perfect, what would I have to work towards? Honestly, college can be a very stressful place. Why else would there be cookies and milk every night in our common room if people didn’t need to stress eat a little? Life, in general, can be stressful, but if we stop focusing on perfection just for a minute and start focusing on actually learning new skills that interest us, the stress may decrease just a bit.