guitar lessons

In June, I picked up my guitar for the first time since before I got pregnant.  I only ever really knew 7 chords like 10 years ago, and I've never performed more than a few hymns or kid songs for my first grade religious education class.  Of course after that long without playing, my guitar was out of tune.  Naturally I tried to tune it on one of the hottest, most humid days of the summer.  I got frustrated and some strings snapped.  Now I was really screwed.  I definitely didn't know enough to replace the strings myself, though I knew I had replacement strings on hand.  So I had to get to a music shop. 

While researching music shops, I learned that my local store also offered lessons.  Hey, it's summer, I've got some time, and I wanted to dedicate myself to mastering a new task.  So I went in intending to just ask about lessons, and walked out with a commitment to a 30 minute lesson every Thursday. 

I don't actually play much during my weekly lesson.  I ask a lot of questions, and try to listen carefully to the avalanche of knowledge from my instructor.  I leave each week with new things to try and I return with more questions based on what I noticed during my practice hours.  

I've learned some things over the last few weeks -- some scales, some chords, some strumming patterns, a little music theory -- but mostly I've gained confidence.  One month isn't going to make a huge difference as a musician, but at least now I feel like I have a few skills to Just Try Stuff with my guitar and give myself direction when I'm poking around with songbooks, rather than feeling lost and aimless.  

The confidence to Just Try Stuff is even more important than the basic skills, I think.  How to impart that to my students, give them that confidence?  Is it from the teacher or from the learner?