Pacing Myself

There's a lot to learn, but it's okay to take it a day at a time.

Apr 02, 2025

4-panel color comic of a girl with a helmet and backpack, learning to bike in a city. Panel 1 shows the girl figuring out how to use a rideshare bike. Text reads: "Learning a new skill is never easy for me." In panel 2, she is nervously navigating city traffic on a bike. Text: "At the beginning, there's a lot of failure - making mistakes and wondering if I'm even capable of learning the new thing." In panel 3, she has an expression of focus and consternation as she scans other vehicles with suspicion and distrust. Text: "Fundamentally, learning means changing your brain. And mine is quite manual and slow-moving." In the last panel, the text reads, "When I'm in it, I often have to remind myself that it's okay to go at my own pace," as she walks the bike across a crosswalk and shouts at a driver, "Hey! I'm walkin' here!" (Dustin Hoffman's iconic line from "Midnight Cowboy"). Comic titled "Pacing Myself." Ink and watercolor on paper. Original artwork by Connie Sun, cartoonconnie, 2025.

I learn new things with great difficulty, but over time, I've come to believe there is value in putting in the work.

We live in a society prizes convenience, efficiency and automation, but I don't think that there are real shortcuts in life, at least where things matter: our relationship to ourselves, to others, to our world, to who and what we love.

Maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I value the hard lessons I’ve had to learn and continue to learn. Pretty sure I get to keep those for life.

Illustration of a girl with a helmet figuring out how to use a rideshare bike, by Connie Sun, cartoonconnie, 2025

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📣 In news, I’ve relaunched my blog on Substack.

Since 2011, I’ve hosted my comics on conniewonnie.com. It has been a year-long project to migrate my entire cartoon archive and also find a place on the internet to publish new artwork and sneak peeks. Let's see how it goes!

Thanks so much for reading and for your encouragement that has kept me going all these years. - Connie

CartoonConnie Comics Blog

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