Being much older now, it's very apparent to me that whatever aptitudes I had as a younger student were driven by whatever good teachers I was fortunate to have

Being much older now, it's very apparent to me that whatever aptitudes I had as a younger student were driven by whatever good teachers I was fortunate to have at the time. In my case I had the good fortune of wonderful math teachers. As a younger student my Physics teachers did not engage me. It is only in my 30's that I appreciate Physics (largely due to personal effort, exposure to important historical problems, and understanding that my own learning style involves needing to empathize with the motivating problem)