Episode 39: Learning the Hard Way

As you may have noticed by this point, we're both college professors. Our perspectives are often heavily informed by that profession and signs of our day job show up, regularly, on this podcast. Whether we like it or not, our experiences in that realm shape who we are and how we navigate the world!

This episode is no exception. In this one, we talk through a topic that we watch our students work through, up close and personally, year after year. But you know what? It’s also something we are not immune from experiencing within ourselves!  What is it?  Well it comes down to this: there is pain and discomfort, oftentimes significantly so, in learning, growth, and change. Simply put: learning, growth, and change can be really hard!

But does this have to be the case? Every single time? Certainly, looking back at our own educational experiences, not ALL lessons were so "hard won." For example, memorizing state capitals... repetitive, challenging, but not what we would call transformative. Other learning experiences, however, are transformative. And we notice that it’s the transformative ones that hurt!  When deep, profound lessons are learned, it opens up a new way of seeing, of interacting, of being. The old ways can die hard, and it can feel like they take part of us with them. As we learn new ways, we abandon and lose the old, to allow a new unknown future —one which we might not fully understand —to arise within and before us.

Give a listen to this one, folks, and let us know what you think! How do you negotiate the discomfort that comes with learning and growth?  Is change worth the pain? Maybe there are lessons learned in this one, maybe not. Let's find out!

P + C

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