Struggle is something we all face. The truth is, we don’t choose struggle—struggle chooses us. You want to grow? Struggle. You want to build? Struggle. You want to succeed? Struggle. It’s as simple as that. Struggle can feel heavy, painful, and endless, making you cry and curse your fate, wondering, “Why me?” Yet, strangely, it’s the very force that shapes us into who we’re meant to be—like a seed pushing through the soil to reach the sun.

In today’s convenience-driven world, where technology shields us from discomfort, it’s easy to forget that the most meaningful things—love, purpose, knowledge, and experience—are earned through grit, effort, patience, and sometimes heartbreak. Take Wilma Rudolph’s story: born in 1940 in Tennessee, she contracted polio and wore a leg brace for years. Doctors said she might never walk again. Yet, through therapy and determination, she not only walked—she ran—and in 1960 became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at a single Olympics.

Just as our bodies weaken without exercise, our minds and hearts need challenges to grow stronger. Without struggle, we remain nothing more than a soft mass of skin and bones.

“Smooth seas do not make skilful sailors.”

~ African Proverb

Consider Arunima Sinha, an Indian volleyball player who lost a leg after being pushed from a moving train in 2011. Many thought her life had ended. But she chose growth over defeat, trained with a prosthetic leg, and became the first female amputee to climb Mount Everest.

Struggle shapes character. It builds compassion, resilience, and depth. Studies by the American Psychological Association show that people who have faced hardships are more likely to help others and form deeper relationships.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”

~ Frederick Douglass

Struggle comes in many forms:

• External Struggles – Losing a job, illness, heartbreak. These moments test our patience and strength.
• Internal Struggles – Fear, self-doubt, depression, trauma. These silent battles scar the soul.

Every struggle arrives when we’re ready to transform. As the saying goes, “It’s not the destination, but the journey that makes it beautiful.”

Seeing others succeed early? Don’t be jealous. Remember the slingshot—it goes further the more it’s pulled back. In Japan, the art of kintsugi repairs broken pottery with gold, embracing cracks instead of hiding them—a perfect metaphor for how our wounds can become our beauty.

Struggle often leads us to our life’s purpose. A cancer survivor may become a counselor, a refugee a storyteller, a grieving person the founder of an NGO. Struggle is both the storm and the sail—it can crush us or carry us forward.

Like a dark tunnel, you must keep walking through it. You’ll stumble, you’ll want to stop, but persistence is the only way forward. The more you delay confronting your struggle, the more it multiplies.

Your story may one day inspire someone else to rise. Struggle may bend and break us, but it also teaches us to rise like a phoenix. We struggle because deep down we know we’re made for more. And that stubborn self of ours transforms struggle into story—into legacy.

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

~ Khalil Gibran

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