Ease Is the Enemy

hey—

If ease is the goal, it’s no wonder most people feel empty.

Most don’t realize that fulfillment isn’t found in comfort; it’s built through resistance. They avoid challenge like it’s pain, not realizing it’s the first signal of purpose. They’re chasing a life that feels good in the moment, not one that means something in the long run.

Most of us were taught that the goal is to remove friction. Make money so you never have to work hard. Automate so you never have to think. Optimize so you never have to feel struggle again. But comfort, left unchecked, calcifies your potential.

When things are too easy, you stop evolving. You feel busy, but not alive. You check boxes, but don’t feel proud. You chase pleasure, but don’t find joy because you’ve removed the one thing that makes progress feel real: effort.

This is why the people who live with purpose all share one trait: They voluntarily choose things that are hard. Not because they love suffering, but because they understand it’s the entry point.

When you do something difficult on purpose, your brain rewires—your sense of self changes. The meaning shows up after the effort, not before.

This is why building something with your hands feels good. Why taking the stairs hits different. Why showing up for your goal when no one’s watching creates self-trust. Because it’s the challenge itself that makes the reward matter.

To change your life, you don’t need to eliminate struggle. You need to choose the right struggle.

Pursue something hard. Something that might break you, but will absolutely grow you. Aim not for the goal. But for who you will become to achieve it.

Discomfort is a signal. Pain is a compass. Resistance is a teacher.

And ease? Ease is the enemy.

…

— Johnathan

(Creator of Striive)