If you’ve lived long enough to develop a favourite supermarket aisle, you’ve probably heard the phrase “life wasn’t meant to be easy.” It’s usually delivered by someone who has just watched you struggle with something unnecessarily dramatic — like assembling flat‑pack furniture, navigating Centrelink, or trying to open a packet of biscuits without ripping it into confetti. The phrase is meant to be comforting, but let’s be honest: it’s basically the universe saying, “Good luck, sweetheart. You’re on your own.”
The funny thing is, nobody ever specifies how hard life is supposed to be. Are we talking mild inconvenience, like losing a sock in the wash? Or full‑blown chaos, like discovering your phone has been on 1% battery for the last hour and is still somehow alive through sheer willpower? The ambiguity is maddening — and yet, strangely liberating. If life wasn’t meant to be easy, then every ridiculous challenge becomes a badge of honour. A cosmic participation trophy.
Take mornings, for example. Some people wake up refreshed, glowing, practically levitating with positivity. The rest of us wake up like we’ve been lightly beaten with a baguette. But that’s fine — life wasn’t meant to be easy. If it were, we’d all rise from bed like Disney princesses, singing to birds and moisturising with dew drops. Instead, we shuffle to the kettle like gremlins and hope caffeine will perform a small miracle.
Or consider adulthood. Whoever designed this stage of life clearly had a sense of humour. You spend your childhood wanting independence, then spend your adulthood Googling things like “is it normal for my fridge to make that noise” and “how many days can I ignore this email before it becomes a crime.” Life wasn’t meant to be easy — but did it have to be this confusing?
And don’t get me started on relationships. Whether romantic, platonic, or the complicated bond you share with your favourite barista, human interaction is a full‑time sport. You’re constantly decoding texts, reading tone, and pretending you didn’t see someone’s message for three hours even though you absolutely did. But again — life wasn’t meant to be easy. If it were, we’d all communicate like IKEA manuals: simple diagrams, no emotional subtext.
Yet here’s the twist: maybe the difficulty is the point. Maybe the chaos, the confusion, the occasional existential meltdown — maybe that’s where the good stuff hides. The stories. The laughter. The moments you look back on and think, “Well… that was a disaster, but at least it was entertaining.” Life wasn’t meant to be easy, but it was meant to be lived — preferably with humour, resilience, and a willingness to laugh at yourself when things go sideways.
So yes, apparently life wasn’t meant to be easy. But with a little cheek, a little charm, and a healthy dose of queer‑infused perspective, it can still be pretty fabulous.