Ever sense I started school in kindergarten, I liked math. It came easily to me and it made perfect sense. I remember being moved to the, "advanced" math group in 4th grade, and I was so excited to learn more. However, for the longest time, I only like math because it was easy for me and I felt unchallenged and not anxious about it.
It was not until my senior year in high school in my AP Calculus class that I fell in love with mathematics, and not how natural it was to me. I struggled in Calc. I didn't get an A, but I got a hard earned B-. I was so proud of that B-, even though I had always gotten A's in math. What got me excited about my B- was not the grade, but the way I got it. I was challenged in calculus to see math in a whole new light and to connect the things I had learned from kindergarten to 12th grade. I saw math as a wonderful playground with endless obstacles and thousands of directions to go.
The direction I went was all-in. I decided after that class to major in math in college. I loved the majority of my math classes, and the freedom I felt within the classroom to have ideas, make connections and learn things I found to be interesting. I was not asked to read long papers and produce long essays. My finals were proofs and my homework was inventing my own problems. So, when I reflect on this, I know that the aspects of math that got me "into" it are the ones I was not introduced to for 11 years of my K-12 schooling. Connection, collaboration, and creativity where things I experienced in my calculus class, and I have not looked back since.