I think it's valuable to understand that most of what we're taught is an abstraction for describing something. Using negative integers as an example, it wasn't

I think it's valuable to understand that most of what we're taught is an abstraction for describing something. Using negative integers as an example, it wasn't until I was introduced to unsigned integers in C that it even occurred to me to wonder about what the heck a negative number is. It was then I realized how cool it was to know that I could make up my own version of numbers where there are no negatives. From now on, numbers all have a length and direction! Instead of +3 and -3, now we was 3 in-that-direction, and 3 in-the-exact-opposite-direction! I decided it was easier to keep using regular negative integers, but it was cool to realize someone just made them up many moons ago. Then I felt smarter and/or less dumb, and I started having fewer "I could never do..." thoughts after that.