What about the fear or nervousness that comes from something you already know in your body, but you haven't done for a while? Is this a kind of forgetting? And what about something you already know but your body just stops you from doing suddenly. This doesn't seem to be a learning issue, but one of confidence. How might you overcome fear when it comes not from a lack of skill/knowledge, but from something else?
I think what you're describing can be understood as a kind of forgetting. I climb much less now than I used to, and there are challenges that scare me now that wouldn't have scared me three years ago. Without regular practice we lose specific strength and mobility, so skills have to be regained. (Fortunately it's quicker to learn something the second time.)
I also think that confidence and learning/knowledge are related. I think fear almost always points towards not knowing and uncertainty. We can't assess risk when we don't know what might happen - and that's scary. Maybe we know how to do the specific skill, but we are unfamiliar with the context. Parkour is helpful here. A jump on the ground might feel easy, but jumping the same distance even a few feet off the ground might feel impossible. I suppose it's worth reflecting on how different kinds of fear (or different edges) come together in specific circumstances - making the familiar seem unfamiliar.
There is also a whole other post to write about how traumatic experience shapes/transforms our ability to encounter fear. This post was more about tingly, butterflies than post-traumatic stress.
Absolutely love this idea... ‘Learning is often framed as a process of developing competencies or skills. It’s less common to think of learning as a process of finding new ways to live in and experience the world.’
What about the fear or nervousness that comes from something you already know in your body, but you haven't done for a while? Is this a kind of forgetting? And what about something you already know but your body just stops you from doing suddenly. This doesn't seem to be a learning issue, but one of confidence. How might you overcome fear when it comes not from a lack of skill/knowledge, but from something else?
These are really useful questions.
I think what you're describing can be understood as a kind of forgetting. I climb much less now than I used to, and there are challenges that scare me now that wouldn't have scared me three years ago. Without regular practice we lose specific strength and mobility, so skills have to be regained. (Fortunately it's quicker to learn something the second time.)
I also think that confidence and learning/knowledge are related. I think fear almost always points towards not knowing and uncertainty. We can't assess risk when we don't know what might happen - and that's scary. Maybe we know how to do the specific skill, but we are unfamiliar with the context. Parkour is helpful here. A jump on the ground might feel easy, but jumping the same distance even a few feet off the ground might feel impossible. I suppose it's worth reflecting on how different kinds of fear (or different edges) come together in specific circumstances - making the familiar seem unfamiliar.
There is also a whole other post to write about how traumatic experience shapes/transforms our ability to encounter fear. This post was more about tingly, butterflies than post-traumatic stress.
Thanks for the questions!
Absolutely love this idea... ‘Learning is often framed as a process of developing competencies or skills. It’s less common to think of learning as a process of finding new ways to live in and experience the world.’