We have all encountered difficulties in our lives. Big or small, these difficulties are undesirable and often unexpected. They make our lives harder than usual, but that’s part of day-to-day life. But, are we complaining more than we should? Has this “struggle” become more of a complaint rather than an actual sacrifice that is an important part of life?
Every individual has his or her own definition for what he or she thinks is a struggle. Most students will agree that some of the basic struggles include balancing academics with a hobby, a sport or with work and with saving or budgeting money. However, the hashtag #thestruggle on Twitter, along with a Buzzfeed post that was published in 2014 changed the perception of what “a struggle” is and began to be used as a joke or refer to petty problems. With this correlation, every time someone uses the phrase “the struggle is real,” people automatically assume that is about an unimportant problem or a so-called “first world problem,” a term that was added to the Oxford Dictionary Online in November 2012. This term refers to issues in First World nations with an absence of more pressing concerns. Some of these First World problems include the speed of the internet, cell phone coverage areas or bad-tasting fruits.
These problems are so unimportant and irrelevant that the fact that people use them just to complain is absurd. The struggles people have in other countries, especially in developing ones, are very real for them. In Eastern and South Africa, for example, they have to face the struggle of undernutrition that has affected 34 percent of children under five, according to UNICEF. Or Greece who has the second worst unemployment rate of the world with 24.62 percent, according to Forbes. If we use the phrase in that type of context, then I believe we are using it correctly and we should recognize them and try to find a solution to it. However, if we keep using it as we do now, to complain about the little sacrifices or some trivial issue that we have, then we are taking the real context away from it and making a joke about how our lives are so “hard” when they are not nearly as bad.
Yes, sometimes life can be tough and can make us face big issues that we are not used to. This is where the struggle could actually be “real” and may involve a sacrifice that goes beyond what we are used to. However, if you think that waking up in the morning to learn or to work, and get paid for it, is a struggle, I would suggest being a productive member of society and trying to make the world a better place instead of just staying in bed and complaining about these trivial things. Try to make it a better place not just for you and your loved ones, but for those who are actually struggling and can only imagine having the life that you live as well.
