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.
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.
The goal is to learn and grow, then make meaningful contributions that can grow other forum members. It's not going to be easy, and it will take time, but it will be worth it in the end.
This doesn't only apply to the forum but to every aspect of life.
Take a business for example.
The goal of a business is to make a profit but you can't make a profit if certain things are not done right. If you just pursue profit without thinking about other factors, your business will fail.
If your product/service is top-notch, your marketing, packaging, and distribution are done right along with other factors, you will make a profit.
The same thing applies to every aspect of life. A degree, career, or anything at all.
If your first encounter with crypto was a scam altcoin, it doesn't mean you should wash your hand off of crypto. If you're still interested in it, learn from that bad situation and gain more experience from it.
If you previously made an investment in Bitcoin and you lost, it doesn't mean you should give up on Bitcoin; learn from it and re-evaluate your decision.
So don't think Bitcoin and Bitcointalk are any different from life.
You may look at a forum member with legendary rank and you want to achieve that, it's good that that motivates you, but you have to know that they didn't just achieve that overnight. They learned, grew, improved themselves, and improved others to get to that level.
Whatever you want, work hard and smart for it because it won't be handed to you on a platter.
You are correct, that in order to get what we want in life, we must keep trying and patient, giving up won't help us achieve our goals in a single day. Many people have tried unsuccessfully investing in bitcoin in their past, but they lost, which they think they didn't make the right decisions and refuse to try again, which some people are now regretting it. However, just because we have lost money on altcoins doesn't mean we should be afraid to invest in bitcoin, we can't always live the past in our minds. It's not easy to get the future we've been craving, but some of us are leaving a life we didn't expect or dream of because we have no other option. We should keep trying and try to learn from our mistakes because nothing useful ever comes easy, and we usually have to lose something in order to gain something in life. Good things never come easily; everything just takes time.