More about fear

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@@ -41,4 +41,12 @@ If you're finding that the topic you're looking to learn is no longer interestin
 
 Treat this as an iterative process, with regular check-in periods to see how you're doing. Think about how you feel when you're learning. Are you excited and engaged or do you feel tired and withdrawn? Do you try to procrastinate when you think about this topic? When you are focusing on your learning does your mind wander? Note these feelings as they occur to you during your focusing sessions and come back to them when you think about your learning process.
 
+## Resistance
+
+Any time we learn new things we put ourselves into a vulnerable and uncomfortable place. We take the things we are familiar with and push into new territory. We become uncertain of the outcome; will it be successful or will it be a failure? Will it help us or hurt us? Will we choose the wrong thing to learn and will it cost us opportunities in the long run?
+
+Discomfort and uncertainty are certainly a part of learning, but rather than think of them as something to be avoided we should instead think of them as a beacon. When we're feeling uncertain about what we're doing that means we're pushing into new territory. Instead of wishing for comfort we can instead relish that we're in uncertain territory and feel those brief twinges of fear and doubt.
+
+We've been conditioned over our human existence to think of the unknown as something to be feared. These emotions have served us well and have kept us from venturing too far out of our comfort zone. When the unknown can house all sorts of dangers it makes sense not to provoke them by showing up on their doorstep. But programming is not the same as venturing into a dark forest or peeking into a damp cave; programming hardly warrants the amount of fear we give it. Instead we need to realize that we're not in any mortal danger and our fears are merely letting us know that we're venturing into the uncharted territory of ignorance where we shall find understanding.
+
 (talk about learning, feelings, and resistance to new learning. Talk about the discomfort of learning new things)