I’m not sure this aligns exactly with what you’re saying but it reminded me of a bit of wisdom I received from someone a fair bit older than myself who seemed quite relaxed, happy, had just bought a house in my small hometown to turn into a B&B—generally pleased with life and a pleasure to talk to.
Me, being quite younger than I am now, and seeing most accomplishments in life as being quite uphill from where I was, asked:
“Does it ever get any easier?”
I think that counts as "better", not "easier". Challenges, by definition, are not easy. I also think that challenges, and therefore difficulty, is an essential ingredient in being happy.
"I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle, it's not going to be satisfying."
I think your cynicism might be turned up a bit high.
I was relating a paraphrased version of a rather sincere conversation I was having with the woman over drinks while visiting my port hometown one summer.
I suppose my editing is for naught if it resulted in a tangled questioning of authenticity! ;P
Not cynicism. It was just my parents comment changed how I viewed the situation in your comment.
I'm not saying the lady was disingenuous, she passed on wisdom that you got something from. That's good. I just realised it might not have been original, that's all. So I got something from this story too, which is also good :)
Me, being quite younger than I am now, and seeing most accomplishments in life as being quite uphill from where I was, asked: “Does it ever get any easier?”
She said, “No, but it gets a lot better”