Bills getting to be too much? Food prices stretching your budget? Feeling overwhelmed at work?

Do you sometimes start to doubt if you are really as competent as you always believed you were? Your love life in a rut? Don’t have the wardrobe you just know you should have?

Does  your back and shoulders ache and you’re tired of getting soaked in rain or waiting or having to wake up early to get transport?

Can’t afford the life of luxury you feel in your soul belongs to you? Is your life just not as awesome as you are?

You may be suffering from The Struggle. Yes, you heard me, The Struggle is real but fear not, for you are not alone. Everyday someone somewhere faces symptoms of The Struggle.

Now, you my be wondering: Does it ever get better? Is there a cure? How do I avoid the struggle? To answer these questions, we must first ask ourselves, What exactly is The Struggle?

The Struggle

Now the struggle is defined as everyday difficulties. This is not the major problems like starvation or being destitute or dying from pancreatic cancer. The struggle affects everyone, from the poor to the 1%. It is hardships that sometimes go beyond the physical or tangible.

http://www.urbandictionary.com has it defined as:

A (generally) ironic saying often used in place of saying, ‘first world problems’. Has slightly more urban undertones than ‘first world problems’. Denotes a situation where the user wishes to express that they are encountering some sort of undesirable difficulty, but dealing with it. With irony, it has a comical effect of dramatizing a non-critical, yet undesirable situation.

A little known fact is that every single one of us during our lifespan MUST experience a symptom of The Struggle. Can you avoid it? No! Can you cure it? No! But…you can treat it.

How, how, how?

With doses of success, of course. But how do we define success?

Success = The Pursuit of Happiness Realized

That is my first definition in any case. So, by this definition, success and happiness are one and the same. Getting a symptom of the struggle and you want immediate relif? Do something or be with someone that makes you happy.

But!!!! Success is also the overcoming of a challenge. So, paying your bills in full and on time….success (even if you might be broke for the rest of the month). Getting that challenging report out on time…….success (yes I know you have 20 other tasks still pending). Just broke up with someone who didn’t appreciate all you did for them……success (your love life would only improve even if now you’re lonely).

You may have an over-arching definition of your greatest challenge or what would constitute your pursuit of happiness but every large hurdle can be broken down into small, bite-sized pieces.

So now when you feel like success is eluding you or is taking its time or that things are just not going your way. When you feeling the struggle, remember:

One, one cocoa does full basket.

The race is not for the swift but for those who can endure to the end.

It’s always darkest before the dawn.

So yes the struggle is real, but fear not! Success is near!