The strange freedom of not knowing

Today I admitted that I did not know something instead of pretending I understood. Surprisingly nobody laughed. Someone explained it patiently, and the conversation continued normally. I had believed admitting ignorance would make people think less of me.binstead, honestly made everything simpler , lighter and strangely reliving for me.

I have seen similar experiences online from people who stopped pretending to understand everything. They described asking questions as confidence rather than weakness. I want to remember that , knowledge does not become smaller when I ask for help. Maybe pretending is heavier than learning and honestly let's me breathe.