Math anxiety... it's a real thing. My wife has a brilliant level of intelligence but refused to approach the higher levels of math. Not out of lack of capability... just fear. She says things like "Math should have numbers in it, but no letters. I'm not about the kind of math with letters in it." And for example, she never completed her psych degree because a statistics course was required to complete it and she didn't want to take it.

It's like a fat person going to the gym for the first time. But once they start getting into the habit of working out and seeing the improvements, the anxiety goes away.

Anyway, congrats on overcoming your math anxiety.