I know I'm learning when I get this feeling like.. mental pain. Still, its a brilliant thing to do consistently.
Eg. Running is pointless, you're not running away from a predator, or a foot-messenger delivering a message or anything; but you are maintaining your health, fitness and quality of life.
The paradox of the experience of learning is that I feel drained and unintelligent when I'm actually going through the work to understand something new. It's only some time after I start really understanding something that I also feel the mental expansion from the new skills I've acquired. If I wanted to feel knowledgable all the time, I'd be better off not trying to learn new things other than what I acquire incidentally around my already-honed skills. I've experienced this cycle enough times to know that I should keep going even when I feel worn down. I agree that it's a lot like physical exercise -- it brings tremendous benefits, but it's also unpleasant enough in the moment that it's hard to act in your own best long term interests.
Eg. Running is pointless, you're not running away from a predator, or a foot-messenger delivering a message or anything; but you are maintaining your health, fitness and quality of life.