The meaning of the sentence

[Marcus]

Can anyone help me to explain what does it mean: "You'll just be spending your day working to overcome strains, trying to live your life and at various points facing the resignation that if you can't get your ass of this damned wheel maybe you are never going to get to where you want in life." What means "facing the resignation"? I suppose it means accept that you can't achieve anything without hard work. Am I right?

[AtlantaEI]

Hi Marcus!

Resignation can be defined as "the acceptance of something undesirable but inevitable." To face the resignation, it means to accept that one must accept an undesirable truth, in this case the fact that "if you can't get your ass off this damned wheel maybe you are never going to get to where you want in life." I don't know the context for this sentence, but it sounds as though this character is currently stuck in a cycle of doing the same thing over and over again (like a hamster in a hamster wheel); unless he removes himself from this situation, he will never get to what he wants to be in life.

Hope that helped!
- Atlanta English Institute
www.atlantaenglishinstitute.com