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.
This is more like a life coaching pep talk. Sincerely I agree with the OP, for every level you wish to attain in this life, you have to work hard for it. Life they say is not bed of roses 🌹, it comes with a little sacrifice, the sacrifice is more of a refining stage. Because most times, when you get some things too cheap, you won't really appreciate or give too much regards to the thing you've succeeded on. Growth doesn't just happen suddenly, it takes time, because the reason they say we have time, is because everything shouldn't happen in one moment.
Even here in the forum, you will see a hierarchy of growth stages, and that growth requires you to make some sacrifice before attaining it.