We all wish life was easier, but it's not so we've got to make do with what we have.
The degree you want, the career you want, and the business you dream to have won't come easy. I'm of the notion that life doesn't want you to succeed. If you run away from every obstacle then you will never achieve your goal.
Life was never meant to be easy especially if we go by Natural Selection that says only the strong shall survive which is unfortunate for many...but then again the rules of survival when it comes to us humans seems to have changed as you can easily inherent wealth from family that can put you in a better position than you were..but if this isn't available to you work hard to give yourself a serving chance.
I keep seeing forum members make complaints about not getting merits and all. It will be very hypocritical of me to say we shouldn't care about merit and ranking up, but your desire to rank up should lead you in the right direction.
I don't get the connection between merit and life tbh because the merit system is quite complex as it goes to show which users are technical, informative, entertaining, belong to a clique etcetera unlike life which has a blueprint of what one needs to do to succeed...