Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. {Oscar Wilde}

Learning is exhausting. 

On the first day of orientation into my MFA Creative Writing program, they gave us a short speech about taking care of our mental and physical health during our first 10 day residency.

They encouraged us to take breaks, to go for walks, to relax when we felt that it was needed.

And while I was glad there would be room for relaxation during the 10 day session, 

I was a bit perplexed. Seriously? It was long days of only seminars and discussions.

How tiring could that be? I thought.

I was wrong.

At the end of each day, I've been mentally and emotionally drained. 

I've been grumpy and stressed almost to the point that I feel like I'm getting physically ill. 

It's not that there's anything bad about the program...

in fact, I've already learned a plethora of great information about how to be a better

writer and reader and about how to take my passion for writing and turn it into a career.

It's just that there's SO much information to take in all at once.

It's literally straining my brain.

Learning is always hard, but this feels like especially tiring subject matter.

When you sit down in front of a packet full of math problems, it may take you hours to

complete all the answers (or in my case, days).
But in the end, you finish something.
You get answers.

Creative writing seminars and workshops offer a whole different type of learning, I think.

They open your mind to new ways of thinking, to new ways of approaching problems,
and they challenge the way you've always written.

So you don't leave with concrete answers.

Instead, you leave with even more questions.

At the end of the day, it's been so hard to turn my brain off.

But I'm glad for that.

Even if it's daunting right now, I'm so excited to have all of this new knowledge

stored up in my mind and I'm ready to unpack it and try using it in my own writing.

My first residency period ends this weekend

and then I'll have five months to work hard from home.

I can't wait to put my newly-opened mind to good use

revising my first novel manuscript.