Friction

Where things did not go smoothly, and what the resistance was trying to tell you.

The persistent difficulty in a relationship that both of you kept trying to work around.

A context you were never quite comfortable in, no matter how long you stayed.

Work that required more effort than it should have because the fit was wrong.

The argument that kept happening in different forms because the underlying thing was never resolved.

Where your nature and your circumstances pressed against each other.

What the repeated obstacle was revealing about the system, or about yourself.

A collaboration that required enormous effort to produce ordinary results.

The place your instincts and your training pointed in different directions.

An institution you tried to change from inside and that changed you instead.

The relationship that required constant maintenance and was still always on the verge of failing.

Where your ambition and your circumstances were incompatible, and what you did about it.

The task that took three times as long as expected and the reason why.

What social friction taught you about which rooms you belonged in.

A role or identity that never quite fit but that you continued to inhabit.

The conversation that was always slightly off, where something was always slightly unsaid.

Where the way you communicated and the way someone else received it created ongoing misunderstanding.

What the resistance in your creative work was pointing toward.

A period when everything required more energy than you had available.

What you learned from the difficulty that ease would not have taught you.