Embrace Your Struggle

In this episode of Struggle2Success, Sterling Brown breaks down why embracing struggle is the key to growth, resilience, and success. From personal setbacks to scientific proof, he shares how challenges strengthen your mind, build grit, and prepare you for the opportunities ahead. If you’ve ever felt weighed down by failure or tempted to quit, this episode will inspire you to see struggle not as punishment, but as preparation. 

Chapters

• 0:20 Welcome to Struggles to Success
• 1:30 Why Embrace Struggle?
• 2:58 The Science Behind Struggle
• 5:16 Finding Resilience Through Discipline
• 8:20 Episode Closing and Call to Action

Transcript

Announcement: 0:20
If you have ever been told by someone that you’re not capable of attaining success, if you have made mistakes or lived in an underprivileged neighborhood, then this podcast is for you. You are now locked in to Struggle2Success. Struggle2Success aims to inspire individuals to navigate life’s challenges with courage, fortitude, and unwavering determination. So if you’re in your car, jogging, or somewhere else trying to find the calm in the storm, join Struggle2Success, airing every week. Remember—life is trials. Stay focused.

Sterling: 0:56
 Hello everyone, this is Sterling Brown, your host of the Struggle2Success Podcast, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you for the downloads, thank you for the comments, and thank you for supporting this podcast. It means everything to know that we are accomplishing our goals and sharing this message. Before I get into this episode, I really want you to share your stars and leave your comments on Apple Podcasts, because it really helps spread the message and keeps us going. Apple has a program where, the more people engage, the more they push a podcast to the front. So please keep helping Struggle2Success—and again, thank you.

Sterling: 1:51
 So here’s the question. If you’ve ever asked yourself why life keeps testing you, why the weight feels too heavy, and why success feels just out of reach—you’re not alone. I’ve asked myself that many times. It’s something we all go through and can relate to, especially when we are encouraging ourselves and being encouraged by others, yet still miss the mark. Then we spiral: I haven’t trained hard enough. I haven’t studied hard enough. I should have put more time in. But the real question is this: why do I need to embrace struggle? Not just deal with it, not just survive it—but embrace it? Here’s the truth: the life you want, the peace you crave, the success you desire—they all live on the other side of struggle.

Sterling: 3:08
 So let’s unpack this for a minute. Struggle isn’t punishment. Struggle is the resistance between where you are and where you want to be. It’s life’s way of asking, How bad do you want it? People often ask me, “Sterling, how do you keep going? How do you deal with the issues? Have you really faced struggles like that?”

Sterling: 3:34
 And my response is this—failure only happens when I stop trying. I’ve failed so many times, but I keep going. If I try it 100 ways, I’ll try it 101. And I’ll keep going until I accomplish that goal. That’s life. Life will hit you when you least expect it—whether everything is going right, or especially when everything is going wrong. You’ll ask yourself, How much more can I take?

Sterling: 4:30
 My answer is—embrace the struggle. Oprah Winfrey once said, Where there is no struggle, there is no strength. And I don’t want to get too scientific here, but let’s be real: even science backs this up. Struggle rewires your brain through neuroplasticity. It strengthens connections and builds new pathways, making you sharper at problem-solving.

Sterling: 4:59
 So why embrace struggle? Because every challenge makes your brain stronger. It sparks motivation. Overcoming resistance lights up your brain’s reward circuits and prepares you for success. Struggle also builds patience, strategy, and emotional control.

Sterling: 5:39
 Most of all, it builds grit. Winners aren’t those who never fall, but those who refuse to stay down. Think about it: when you’re watching your favorite basketball game or your favorite boxer in the ring, you see perfection. But what you don’t see are the thousands of failures in practice—the missed shots, the sparring losses, the hours of sweat and pain behind the scenes. That’s grit. And grit is built only through struggle.

Sterling: 7:45
 Too many of us want things easy. But the truth is, the body is geared toward comfort, not pain. You must be disciplined to push through pain and setbacks. Everyone wants the weekend, but it’s the weekdays of grind, struggle, and lessons that build resilience. Without struggle, we’re more likely to act on impulse, fall into peer pressure, or make destructive choices.

Sterling: 8:36
 When we show young people how to struggle productively, we raise better thinkers, stronger leaders, and committed community members. I’ve had my share of struggles, and I still struggle today—because I have goals. And goals require constant growth. Specifically to you young men and brothers out there—embrace struggle.

Sterling: 9:11
 The moments when you want to quit are the very moments that shape you most. There were times I said, “I’m done. I’m exhausted.” But then I stopped, breathed, and told myself, I can give five more minutes. That five minutes turned into ten, then twenty. You are so much more resilient than you think—but you’ll never discover it until you embrace the struggle. Science calls it adaptation. I call it becoming who you were meant to be.

Sterling: 10:29
 Let’s recap. Struggle rewires your brain for growth. Every challenge prepares you for the next blessing. So ask yourself: what struggle am I avoiding? What would my life look like if I faced it head-on? Who could I become if I stopped running from the hard stuff and embraced the struggle?

Wonderful people, thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Struggle2Success Podcast. Until next time, remember—life is trials. Stay focused.

Announcement: 11:07
Thanks for checking out this episode of Struggle2Success. To connect with the show, you can email us at struggle2success.p@gmail.com
. Make sure you like and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. And remember—life is trials. Stay focused.

Sterling: 11:23
 Stay focused.