Learning to trust the experience

by Rhianna Leigh

Editor’s note: The sketches are taken from Rhianna’s notebook, which includes notes taken during classroom lectures and teachings over the 2024-2025 school year, and her included words are taken from a homework assignment during the same year.

I’m noticing a profound shift in the way I’m approaching my learning. My tendency to want to do everything really well and get the “A” is shifting toward a much more holistic and nourishing approach.

It’s a completely new language and the only thing I want to do is just soak in it. So that’s what I’m doing.

I’ve lost interest in trying to be a “good” student and instead I’m relaxing into just trusting the experience. And even though I seem to forget most of what I learn it’s almost as if it doesn’t matter. Because there’s something deeper and richer than memorization at work right now.

Rhianna Leigh is an abstract artist and a first-year student at ArborVitae. You can find her work on her website.