The person you think was born knowing this once stared at it just as lost as you.

Competence in someone else is visible; the route they took is not. You meet people at their current level and mentally back-fill an origin story where it always came easily, because you never saw the six months they spent confused. Everyone who is fluent in something was once unable to follow a single sentence of it.

When you feel behind, ask the person how long it took and what they found hardest. Most will tell you, and the answer is usually longer and messier than you assumed. Comparing your beginning to somebody else’s middle is the error worth catching.