I have this sentence:
What really matters in the struggle for life is to overcome one's fear.
Is "for" suitable or should it be replaced by "of"?
I'm confused here because "struggle" connotes two things to me here, one as "for" survival and other as "of" competition.
Best Answer
They have different meanings. A struggle for life is more specific; it means struggling to keep from dying. A person in danger of drowning will do his best to swim out of danger, and that action of swimming constitutes a struggle for life. So, your sentence has the meaning that if one is struggling to save one's life, what really matters is to keep from panicking.
The struggle of life is a more general reference to the fact (at least, what most of us believe to be a fact) that life is a struggle. So, it may also be true that what really matters in the struggle of life is to overcome one's fear, but it is referring to the more general struggle that is part of existence. Go after your dreams, so to speak.