I know of a couple of people I really trust that tried to explain to me how they feel when they try math or programming and it's more like a physical pain almost than frustration. I always also got frustrated and always thought everyone just has to push through it but I wonder if there's something deeper. Those two people really led me to believe some of us have some harder "blockage" than others to get through, and it's not related purely to being generally smart.
I know of a couple of people I really trust that tried to explain to me how they feel when they try math or programming and it's more like a physical pain almost than frustration.
For a lot of people writing prose is like this too (https://bessstillman.substack.com/p/on-writing-or-not). Back when I taught English to college students, it felt like getting students used to creating the smallest fraction of writing possible—getting them started—was a key skill, as was trying to teach the kind of free association that leads to deeper insights. Learning to manage frustration is of vital import to many people who want or need to learn to write better.
I think you're partially right. But the "smartest" of us probably have a combination of high pain sensitivity (motivated to solve the problem) and high pain tolerance (won't give up until they do).
