The importance of asking questions

I’ve realized that pretending to understand something is often much more embarrassing than simply asking a question. I used to stay quiet because I didn’t want people to think I was inexperienced or uninformed. But everyone has to learn somehow. Asking questions can actually make you more confident because you stop wasting energy pretending. I wish I had learned this earlier, especially professionally. Not knowing something isn’t a character flaw. Refusing to learn because you’re afraid of looking inexperienced is much more limiting. Do you find it easy to ask questions when you don’t understand something?