The Beauty of Struggle

The Word Everyone Misunderstands (For No Good Reason)

Struggle is a word people often avoid, as if admitting it means admitting defeat. Yet its definition points in the opposite direction. To struggle is to make strenuous efforts against difficulty. Built into the word is movement, intention, resistance. Struggle is not a sign of collapse but a sign of life.

Lollipop Jones and the 300-View Odyssey

Consider Lollipop Jones, a friend whose TikTok videos average about 300 views. Her content hasn’t yet cracked the code of engagement, but she keeps filming, keeps posting, keeps adjusting. Whether the algorithm rewards her or not, her persistence signals something important: she struggles.

Midnight Promises and Morning Regrets

Then there is me, staying up late on the internet multiple times a week, making the same promise each morning—this time I’ll sleep earlier. Some days I succeed. Many days I don’t. But the intention doesn’t die. I keep trying. I struggle.

Tunde vs. The Infinite Scroll

And then there’s Tunde, who dreams of learning new skills but finds himself pulled back into Netflix and Instagram. Each day he sets plans, and each day he drifts. Still, the desire to improve remains inside him. He struggles.

The Hard Things Are… Hard

None of these situations are simple. Making engaging content isn’t easy. Breaking bad habits isn’t easy. Focusing on long-term goals isn’t easy. Difficulty is not a moral failure; it’s simply the texture of growth. Struggle, therefore, is not ugly—it is evidence of continued belief in change.

The Loop That Eats Your Progress

But struggle becomes meaningful only when it evolves. A person who keeps fighting the same battle the same way is not actually improving; they’re merely enduring.

Take the alcoholic who wants to quit but walks home past the same bars every day. His problem isn’t discipline. His problem is geometry—he is moving through a landscape designed to defeat him.

The Moment the Essay Turns Into a Thesis

People often attempt to change while keeping their environment identical. They repeat the same routines, keep the same temptations nearby, structure their days the same way, and then expect their willpower to deliver new outcomes.

But no system—biological, mechanical, psychological—produces different results without altering the variables.

Lollipop Jones won’t reach millions of views by making the same type of videos forever.
I won’t fix my sleep if every night looks exactly like the last.
Tunde won’t learn new skills while surrounded by the same distractions.

The Quiet Rule That Governs All Real Change

The truth becomes clear: to overcome any struggle, a person must adjust the conditions around the struggle. Willpower alone cannot outmatch a fixed environment. Improvement requires environmental tweaks, new routines, and disruption of old patterns. Harder struggles require bigger changes.

The Simple, Honest End

Struggle is noble only when it adapts. Growth comes not from fighting the same fight with greater intensity, but from redesigning the battlefield so victory becomes possible.