beauty in the struggle

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

this publication is a place for me to reflect on productivity, health and tech, and drop unique opportunities in the space right to your inbox daily. if you’re new here, sign up to tune in! 💌 

btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: beauty in the struggle 💖 

would we celebrate victory if we didn’t struggle to attain it? would we wear medals with pride if we didn’t struggle to ensure its place is around our necks? would we relish in the feeling of financial freedom if the path leading up to it wasn’t a challenging hike?

nobody deserves unjust hardship, and it can become impossibly hard to face it. the only way to persevere through is to believe that the struggle will only make our triumph brighter. if we were just handed perfect grades, winning soccer matches, college acceptances with no effort of our own, the victory wouldn’t be as sweet. 🍬 yeah, life would probably be good if you lived with everything handed to you on a gold platter, but you would never understand that feeling of immense pride and overwhelming gratitude towards yourself and those that have helped you along the way.

we wouldn’t celebrate feats like climbing mount kilimanjaro or completing a half-marathon if it wasn’t a struggle to do so. we wouldn’t be impressed with accomplishments if they weren’t difficult to attain, right? we have a tendency to keep pushing to make the impossible possible, and i think that’s a wonderfully human thing. there’s pride in that struggle and determination to succeed. it’s this realization that has helped me find power within struggle — your resilience will reward you 100-fold. 💪

you’re still standing, despite all odds. still reaching higher, still persevering, still growing, still learning.

you’re still succeeding, even if it doesn’t feel like it at times.

and what is that, if not beautiful?

i’m not one to quote people much, but sigmund freud (yeah, that freud..) said something which resonates well with this topic:

life is more meaningful when it’s hard. it’s tricky to appreciate it when we’re right in the midst of struggle, but there is always the other end. the journey to it is beautiful, and you’re doing great. 💖

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