Life is the property that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the ability to grow, reproduce, function, and change before death.
The keywords are grow, reproduce and change. These are what separates us from our non-living entities in this planet. Meanwhile, the halting of life is called death.
Death is the state of being dead. It is a permanent cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. All the physiological facets will someday cease. At some point in time our existence will end. A black abyss of eternal unconsciousness, inability to connect with people, inability to experience the joys and sorrows life has to offer, the blacks and whites of morality, even the grays of life and the hypocrisy of society - will be kissed goodbye after death.
Some might find life a rollercoaster of suffering. Or, it could be a drug that induces euphoria. Some people perceive life as a story or akin to a car and we hold the stirring wheel. Some people drive their cars, and sometimes, they are the passengers. Sometimes, they are passengers, but they're gagged and cuffed. Maybe the car is a police car.
We could be free in our story, or maybe, someone dictates and writes the story for us. Sometimes we feel oppressed by our authors so we either cease them or we cease ourselves.
Life is something simple and yet complex. Simple because there are many things we could do in order to suit ourselves even when powerless against the collective judgement of society. Death is the simplest out for a complex knot of life we or other people got ourselves into. Insanity is a good excuse as well for a mind is the best conduit for escape.
Life is complex because there is a will or in analogy of cars, we hold the wheel. Many people let Jesus take the wheel for they are powerless, but when one wants a substantial control, they would take turns and rolls and various dances to get by and control their lives... or at least lead it away from the noose. Got it? The noose and knots may be complicated, and the nooze and necks simplify things.
No amount of knowledge and self-help books could teach you about how to live your life. People often read books to atleast know or unveil their choices, but sometimes, people use books so that they could properly level their necks and properly attach the noose around it.
Is life hard? When one is financially stable, when one could eat enough, when one is spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physiologically and socially satiated, then it is not that hard. But, satisfaction is something fulfilled subjectively. Each criteria is different for each person. That is also the reason that a life fix does fit all sizes. Life is not a standardized matter with standardized solutions especially when you account multiple aspects of it.
That is why survival is what makes life complicated and death makes life simple. If you want to survive, you should expect that you'll go through a rollercoaster ride with tons of shit along the way.