Why Some of Us Are Built for Hard Roads

The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity. - Seneca

Some people spend their whole lives trying to escape struggle. Some, trying to understand why it follows them everywhere they go and things they do.

Everywhere I look, struggle finds me. Every choice to improve, every new decision, every attempt at growth — each one brings a new form of difficulty. For a long time, I wondered: What if I stop acting altogether? Would the struggle finally leave me alone?

But that illusion broke quickly. Even in inaction, I found another layer of struggle waiting for its turn — anxiety, stagnation, regret, self-doubt. Life taught me that struggle isn’t something you can escape by refusing to move. It simply changes its shape.

With time, I recognised a deeper truth:
Some people aren’t meant to avoid struggle — they’re meant to learn how to carry it.

I’ve always felt a strange connection with Angraj Karna from the Mahabharata. A man destined for hardship. His struggle wasn’t occasional; it was woven into his life at every step — in learning, in legitimacy, in morality, in loyalty, in identity. And yet, he never abandoned his duty. He stood tall as a warrior, even when life gave him every reason to feel like a victim.

In that story, I see myself.

And somewhere deep inside, I realized:
Some people — like Karna, like me, maybe like you — are simply built to carry more struggle than others.

Not because we are unlucky.
But because our growth, our identity, our Dharma is forged through challenge.

Maybe the sum of struggle in our life has already been allotted and escaping it was never an option.

So instead of asking, “Why is everything so hard for me?”
I’ve started asking a different question:
“If I’m going to struggle anyway, what is worth struggling for?”

Because quitting doesn’t free you from difficulty.
Inaction doesn’t protect you.
Life will throw something at you either way.

But when you choose your struggle —
when you pick a dream, a purpose, a responsibility that you’re willing to endure difficulty for —
the whole meaning of the fight changes.

You stop feeling like a victim standing in the rain.
You start feeling like a warrior walking through a storm.

This, to me, is Dharma.
Not a mystical concept, not a religious idea — but a simple truth: Your Dharma is whatever makes your struggle meaningful.

Whatever makes you say: “This is hard… but it’s worth it.”
Whatever turns pain into purpose.

And in that choice — in that moment — you stop suffering twice for no reason, and start growing for a reason.

But why is struggle so necessary? Why does nature ensure its inevitability? And if it is truly unavoidable, then what purpose hides behind all this hardship?

To answer that, we must look at both science and philosophy, because both point in the same direction.

Suffering, Struggle, and Their Underlying Purpose

In the natural world, nothing grows without resistance.
Charles Darwin observed this clearly in his theory of natural selection — life evolves not because conditions are easy, but because conditions are difficult. Species survive only when they adapt to the pressures around them. Without challenge, without danger, without competition, without scarcity — there would be no evolution, no strength, no intelligence, no refinement.

Nature’s message is simple:
Struggle is not an accident. Struggle is the mechanism.

If animals faced no predators, they would never develop speed.
If humans faced no uncertainty, we would never grow in courage, wisdom, or resilience.

The same law applies to us psychologically, emotionally, spiritually.

Seneca captured this truth thousands of years before Darwin when he said: “A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.”

We admire the shine of the gem, but forget the grinding it endured.
We admire strong people, but forget the storms they survived.

We want clarity, peace, strength, confidence — but without the friction that creates them. Life doesn’t work that way.

Struggle is not punishment.
Suffering is not meaningless.
Hardship is not a curse.

They are the tools nature uses to carve us into who we must become.

Just as the body gets stronger only when the muscle tears, the mind grows only when it endures discomfort, and the soul matures only when it faces adversity. Nature’s design isn’t a flaw or cruelty — it is precision.

If your life feels full of struggle, it may not be a sign of weakness.
It may be a sign that nature is actively shaping you.

Some of us are given heavier challenges because we are meant to develop heavier strength.
Some of us walk the harder road because we are meant to travel farther than others.
Some of us face continuous friction because we are meant to shine brighter.

Struggle is not the enemy.
Meaningless struggle is.

And the moment you choose the purpose behind your suffering, the entire nature of the suffering transforms.