Living also means struggling

Sometimes we expect being a good person to come naturally, and when we feel resistance within, we get frustrated, as if something were broken. But human life has something of a fight to it: inside you carry an inclination toward good and another toward evil, and bringing out the good requires struggle. Knowing this lifts your spirits. You do not panic when you feel the struggle, nor do you give up at the first hurdle. Nor do you think yourself worse than others: it happens to everyone, even to those you admire most. It is not a gloomy fight. It belongs to someone who wants to love well and refuses to simply drift. Every small battle won, even unseen, makes you freer.