[vanboxel]

I'm a very technical person, but I never feel dumber than when doing mathematics. Self-teaching it is especially challenging. In many fields, one can learn to recognize general patterns and quickly apply them elsewhere. In math, I find that general pattern matching can be helpful for getting ideas, but there's so shortcut to working through the logic required in a rigorous mathematical proof. It's almost a different kind of thinking, and it takes a ton of effort.

If you're interested in self-teaching, I recommend an excellent Abstract Algebra book designed explicitly for that: https://today.williams.edu/books/abstract-algebra-a-student-.... This was the book that got me into rigorous mathematics and started me on the journey of doing a math PhD (defending this semester!). It only requires high-school algebra, and honestly, even that isn't really needed.