Being Comfortable with Struggling - Alan's Blog

Think back on your most recent struggles, whether it be relationship related, school related, etc. For me, I immediately think of my real analysis class the past semester and how difficult that was, lol. Would you want to go back and do it all again? Of course not, unless you’re a masochist - most likely you’re glad it’s over. Yet, in one of the most well spoken chapters I have ever read in a book, in Mathematics for Human Flourishing, Dr. Francis Su frames struggle as an inherent human desire. Wait, what? In classic mathematical fashion, Dr. Su’s argument actually comes down to a matter of definitions. Dr. Su calls the struggles that I asked you to think about in the beginning “struggles through suffering.” They are characterized by pain and grief - thus, it would be insane to call them desirable. Yet, there is another type of struggle - the struggle to grow, drawn from the desire to become better at the things we do. There is potentially sample bias at play here, but essentially ever

Think back on your most recent struggles, whether it be relationship related, school related, etc. For me, I immediately think of my real analysis class the past semester and how difficult that was, lol. Would you want to go back and do it all again? Of course not, unless you’re a masochist - most likely you’re glad it’s over. Yet, in one of the most well spoken chapters I have ever read in a book, in Mathematics for Human Flourishing, Dr. Francis Su frames struggle as an inherent human desire. Wait, what? In classic mathematical fashion, Dr. Su’s argument actually comes down to a matter of de