Do you think having to struggle with life, does more for your character than living a life of continual bliss?

Question

Of course a mixture of both would be a balance.
It seems those who have all the materialistic advantages, struggle with happiness.
Do we need to struggle at some point to show us how lucky we are when we come out the other side, still alive and coping? You can't buy good health just a more comfortable bed...
Does that struggle really shape our character?

King of,
you can't say that, you don't know what other people have stuggled with.
Those that have answered may have gone through terrible hardships. Why call somone an idiot because your view is different?
I do wish you well, and if life is hard for you, I hope it will get better very soon...

Answer 1

To an extent what doesn't kill you does make you stronger, but on some level it does eat away at your soul leaving you diminished if the struggle is relentless, day in day out.
You become strong in that you can appreciate the simple pleasures as forming a really lovely day, whilst most others may be bored, treat it as a given and nothing special. The struggle means that you can tolerate disaster; accepting it as a given and nothing special. Others crumble and their world falls apart when faced with problems that you deal with every day and do not bat an eye at - this leaves you in situations where you have to help people deal with these events that you find trivial, and, of course, due to the relative strengths of character, your good deeds go unrewarded and not reciprocated - Such is the way of the world; strength of character is doomed to servitude to the needs of the weak majority unless it cares to remove itself from the masses in a display of haughty abandon.

Answer 2

I think it really depends on what the struggles are. This wkd I've been meeting a lot of kids and teenagers who live in very difficult family situations. As a result, many of them don't know how to behave and respond properly. The local church have helped a lot by "adopting" many kids into their community, and they are beginning to see big improvements, however, this has required a lot of hard work.

I think problems can really damage people for a long time, and some people will never recover fully. On the other hand, recovery is possible (especially with Jesus!) Everyone has problems throughout life to some degree or other, but what will form your character is not the fact that you have struggles, but the way you respond to these problems, and the decisions that you make. If you manage to maintain a good attitude, and make wise decisions, then yes - your character can certainly be improved and strengthened through problems. Difficult in practice, but worth it in the end, and you do end up appreciating life more.

Answer 3

Absolutely ... you learn more through your hardships than you could learn if you never really had any.

Although it does not always make you a nicer character...

I think no matter what people have, or how much ... there will always be something to complain about as health/happiness cannot be bought ...

although better drugs/treatment can be bought (ie. BUPA and maybe the american health insurance system) and is why less people die of aids in this country than in africa for instance.

Money is not the problem... the fact that people may die if they don't have it is the problem.




DR bad
easy like sunday morning..

ps ... another good question... one of the few that you get in P&S ;-)

Answer 4

Firstly, there is no "continual bliss" unless you're conected to a morphine dripper (you know, the machines that drip it into your blood vein in hospital).
Happiness is a state of mind, an emotion, like Lust, Love, Anger, Frustration, Extasy, Euphoria, Depression, Sadness, etc.
If it is associated, in the person's mind, with material possessions, fashion and looks, or visual surroundings, it becomes like a drug addiction that needs a fix (new car, new boob job, new job, new house, new surround sound, subwoofer and home entertainment package for the car!!!!!!!). This is probably the most expensive habit to maintain, and once you realise you are only surrounded in junk that can't even be sold for half its price in the flea market because their prices plummetted a week after you purchased it!!!!!!
But happiness is one of the most personal emotions we have- each one of us "feel" it in a different way. Personally, I thought I had found true happiness with my first ex, second ex, forth ex, and the time I won the Soccer trophy, but I truly experienced happiness when my daughter arrived into my egoistic little world.
And whether your character is defined by the amount of "struggling" you've accumulated, I believe it is defined by the quality of the "struggles"- Struggling with cancer cannot ever compare to struggling to make it to the end of the week without overdrawing your daily account and not touching your accumulated savings that is earning interest the longer you don't use it!!!! Most "struggles" become meaningless after you've been through the top three struggles of our time, and they are:
#3: Losing everyone you love (by death or stubbornness),
#2: Fighting cancer (of any type especially the ones that need quemo therapy), and, the
#1 struggle of our time: Living in a war-torn country seeing death everywhere you go.

So, before you can define "happiness", "sorrow" needs a thorough workout!

Answer 5

I would say yes, although it would be great to have it all and I often wander just how that would feel. You only have to look on answers to see how different we are and how one mans meat is another ones poison. The way I see it is we have two choices, get on with it or give up, it has to be the first one for me as I am naturally a fighter, not in an aggressive way but even though I get terribly down I always come out the other side and say to myself right where do I go from hear. I suppose the only difference for people who have ' everything' is that they haven't really.

Answer 6

I can't speak for the suffering of others who have posted in answer to this question, but I can say that King Of's lament would apply to me. My personal suffering is trivial in comparison to the suffering of the starving and the homeless. That being said, I truly loath the suffering that I do go through, however small. I do not like beating my head against a brick wall or repeating mistakes. I would prefer to live this life without struggle and save character for the next life. That last statement was not made to condone immoral action, but only to say, that I do not want to put up with trials in this life, and would be willing to postpone trials until the next life.

Answer 7

I spend everyday struggling, and as a question i have just answered asking about religion 'Is it played out?' Yes it is, it's down to me and me only to help us survuve as family. No amount of praying will do it for me.

I struggle due to no maintenance for support of my children, I work hard which is a teaching my children need to understand, in order to get what you want you have to work for it, and i have been on both sides of the fence.

Education - Thats down to the individual with guidance.

Wow there are some good questions here today....

KING OF - READ MY 360 AND DIGEST THEN PASS COMMENT

Answer 8

I think so yes. It gives you life experience, which is very good to have. Most people, especially the ones that don't have to worry about anything, will sooner or later have some crises. Then, they don't know what to do. They become very weak. On the other hand, people with some experience don't experience this the same way. They have been stronger tru what they already have learned.

Answer 9

Yes, struggle does help built a strong character I think. I grew up in a large, fairly poor family, where we had to learn to be independent at an early age. It's stood me in good stead all my life. There's not much that fazes me. I see friends unable to cope with the most minor (to me) events in their life, and I'm thankful for my early beginning.

Answer 10

Yes, pretty much. Struggle does make us appreciate the things we have. I've been broke and now I'm doing well. I wouldn't know the value of anything if I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.