There's Always a Lesson

Hard weeks, open questions, & choosing to be seen

It's been a hard week. I'm not going to dress that up. Some weeks just are, and this was one of them — the kind where things don't go smoothly, and you have to decide, over and over, whether you're going to get curious or just get through it.

I keep coming back to something I believe pretty deeply: in every situation — even the frustrating ones, the draining ones, the ones where someone doesn't show up the way you needed — there is an opportunity to find the learning. Not as a consolation prize. Not to make yourself feel better. But because it's actually true.

There is always an opportunity for learning.

What the week brought up

I had a situation this week. A client asked something of me, and I found myself in that familiar place of asking: What is this situation actually showing me? Not: how do I get out of this. Not: whose fault is it. Just — where’s the learning? (If you know me, you know I take the usage of the word “just” very seriously, and I mean it here!)

The reframe doesn't make hard things easy, but it does make them useful. And there's something extraordinary about staying in that question instead of collapsing into the story of what went wrong.

The willingness to stay curious in the middle of something hard is its own kind of practice.

I don't always get it right. But I'm getting better at catching myself — noticing when I've stopped being curious and started just reacting — and finding my way back to the question.

My view from yoga tonight.

The good stuff

Tonight, I went to yoga; I love Joe’s class. The sunset through the studio window was genuinely gorgeous. As the sun descended, and even through a screen, it stopped me. The camera couldn't hold it all, but I watched it anyway.

And then, in happy baby pose of all places, I read a message from a friend, perfectly timed. So on point that it cracked something open, and I cried a little, right there in class. Being seen by a friend is not nothing, and she didn’t even know how much I needed to hear what she said!

Hard weeks have a way of making poignant moments land harder. That's probably another lesson.

Joe used this quote as part of his intention:

"Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway."
— Mother Teresa

As usual, his words resonated. Not as a goal to achieve or a box to check, just as a direction to move toward. Because I know what it costs to be honest. I also know what it costs when I avoid vulnerability, and I've gotten clear about that trade-off: it’s better to lean into honesty and transparency than to avoid vulnerability.

Vulnerability isn't comfortable, but performance is exhausting. And at some point, you have to choose which kind of tired you'd rather be.

Here's to the weeks that teach you something. Even, and especially, the hard ones.

Aurelie Gallagher is the designer behind Irish Eyes Design, a boutique graphic design studio serving small businesses and entrepreneurs. She specializes in brand identity and print design as well as Squarespace websites, and she believes that great design starts with knowing yourself first.