I work with young people as a fitness trainer. In difficult workouts they’re known to become dramatic and cry out that they are suffering. It prompted me to research the philosophical differences between suffering and struggling. This is what we came up with:

Suffering is not an individual choice. It is experienced at the hand of another who does not care about your well being. It has no purpose but to bring you down.

Struggling is an individual choice. Perhaps someone else is guiding you through the process, but in someway it is your own design. It is endured because it is a means to an end in achieving or attaining something worthwhile. It’s purpose is to build you up and make you stronger.

Sometimes suffering is out of our hands, but other times it is a matter of perspective. Struggling is a valuable part of becoming more and life would not be so great without those moments that make us.