Strive

Chapter 6The gift of struggle

Defining struggle for an individual is tricky because it is deeply personal, and different for different people. If you suffer from chronic pain, just getting out of bed may be a struggle. Struggle is also relative to context, and so is a moving challenge that varies depending on what is going on for a person. If you come from a war-torn country, your idea of what is a struggle is going to be very different from that of a latte-sipping, brunch-eating, wealthy white guy from the north shore of Sydney. (Not that I know any of them …)

What we do know about struggle is that it has gotten a bad rap. In the previous chapter, I discussed the dangers of avoiding struggle. Here, I talk about the gifts that come from accepting struggle. A life without struggle is a life without growth. In fact, the more struggle we experience in the strive, the more satisfying it is. Our success as a species has come from our ability to embrace and overcome struggle. Struggle is a sign that we are experiencing learning and growth. Wellbeing is just not about our ability to thrive but also our ability to navigate and respond appropriately to struggle. Struggle would be less painful and less uncomfortable if we normalised it. Rather than demonising it we need to bring it out into the open, embrace it, and form a more functional relationship with it.

Understanding the four types of struggle

In my team’s research and interviews, we came across four main different types of struggle. ...