Does happiness require struggle?
It is a rather unfortunate fact that the leading philosophies of how to live your life appear to be in direct tension with each other.
On one side, there’s the ideology according to which you should work hard, be obsessed and make sacrifices. As echoed by Mark Manson (writer of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck), “Happiness requires struggle”.
Self-help authors from the competing party advocate an opposite lifestyle. Imploring us to care less about productivity, they assert that busyness is for losers and that we should embrace mindfulness instead of diligence. As Power of Now-author Eckhart Tolle advises: “Learn from nature: See how everything gets accomplished without dissatisfaction or unhappiness.”
According to the one, existence is an uphill battle. According to the other, we should stop having a beef with life.
Lets see who’s right.
How to live?
The doctrine that happiness requires struggle combines two ideas. One: reaching every goal that is worthwhile will necessarily require combating difficulties. Two: true happiness can only be attained after having gone through such a “struggle”.
As the British philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) remarked in his book Utilitarianism: “It’s better to be Socrates unsatisfied…
