The struggle is the story. Every great novel, story, graphic novel, online media that I can think of in the last few years or forever that have left a lasting impression have been about the struggle, rise, fall, catharsis and ultimate triumph of the main protagonist against all manner of overwhelming odds. Literature thrives on suffering, or as they say, without pain there is no poet. Even the tragic heroes, their triumph is symbolic in their struggle which lead them to some way or form of sacrifice.

I digress whether to go into examples – Frodo had to walk to Mount Doom (Lord of the Rings), Rand Al Thor had to lose his hand and find his humanity again (Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time Series), Spartacus died in glory (Starz TV series), Ayn Rand’s classics (The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged), Batman had to have his back broken and find a way back (referring here to Knightfall, not the terrible Christopher Nolan series), Daredevil takes beating after beating but stands up to save his little patch, Andy Dufresne had to survive years in prison and crawl a mile through a sewer to emerge triumphant into the rain (The Shawshank Redemption) etc etc.

Take fiction away, the stories of the fabled businessman who rises from the ashes, the rags to riches stories, the second comings (Steve Jobs), someone who lost it all, found their calling, and reinvented themselves as successes are so prevalent in our daily ticker-tape media, news feeds and deluge of inspirational literature that it seems everyone is looking to find their identity by imprinting their life-story on someone else’s redemption story.

But, at the same time, the pervasiveness of the aspirational good life – the branding, the constant partying, the selfies with the beautiful people, the tick-boxes of having worn the newest brand, eaten at the fanciest restaurant, holidayed at the most exotic location have become such an important goal of today’s psyche, that every one wants that life yesterday rather than today. The mountain be damned, get me a helicopter to the top!

The dichotomy of this being, where we devour phoenix like media, however aspire to the good life at the earliest stage possible is becoming more and more apparent in every facet of our personal, corporate or family lives. We want the easy road, the quick buck, the luxuries, yet are still enamoured in our mind’s eye with our self-generated struggle. But how many of us are willing to take the hard road, the tougher stance, the path off the beaten track? In our workplaces, we want the easiest seat, the biggest portfolio, the best clients, and in our personal lives, we want the catalogue lifestyle (the scene from Fight club of his apartment flashes through one’s mind), the VIP treatment, and all the goodies that can be gotten right here right now.

Do we need to inure ourselves from our media and literature, or do we stop the constant feed of charmed lifestyle goals? Are we willing to put ourselves in the same positions as these people of worth that we identify with in order to get where we need to? Writing your own story, putting yourself in those positions is not the socially acceptable norm either, have we considered that? Are we willing to ostracize ourselves from those circles which only hold you worthy as per their own judgemental standards?

I have found there are very few who do take those paths, but writing your own story at the end is what counts, and the struggle should be your own too, not only of the ones you read about. Whether you get there or not, the struggle is your story, and each one’s is their own!