In my opinion difficulties can have two effects on a person.

No doubt that overcoming a difficulty can

make you stronger but unfortunately if somebody is not able to overcome it, there is no positive
effect or it even can weaken him.

Going to the gym is a very simple example to illustrate this fact. As long as you use an appropriate
weight for your training you will improve and get stronger. If the weight is to heavy and you can not
move it or if the weight is to light and you don’t need any effort to move it, you only waste you time
in the gym. In this example it is very easy to learn and improve form the past lesions. If the difficulty,
which in this case is the weight for the training, is to heavy or to light just take an other one. You can
adapt it to your needs. The speed of your progress in this case is mostly in your own hands. With
strong efforts and a good discipline everybody is able to be successful.

What could be an example for a difficulty that weakens a person? I guess, something that often
happens is that parents force their kids to become something that is just not possible to reach for
them. They want them to be doctors, astronauts or sport stars even if the kids do not have the
needed talents. This could have a bad effect on some of them, because if you work very hard for a
long time and there is no success you might loose self-confidence. On the other side, if a kid is not
forced to do anything at all the same effect probably appears.
As a conclusion, I would say that difficulties an especially the struggles to overcome them are the
most valuable lesions in life. The ability to handle a difficulty and also the knowledge that you can
stand up after a fail improve your self-confidence and help you to better in the future. I saying that I
have heard a lot in my life is: If it does not kill you, it will make you stronger.