To me, becoming a “better Buddhist” is a struggle; it is a battle to overcome our instincts. Instincts that are hard-wired into our physical make-up (appetite, lusts, pleasures, the need for stimulation). This struggle is made all the harder by living in a society that makes pleasure and entertainment so ubiquitous. I seek inspiration in examples of the battle that the Buddhist must wage in order to overcome. I found a nice example recently:

“Peacocks range the poison-plant jungle,
Never drawn to the medicine-flower bed,
Since they thrive on the essence of poison.

The elegant spiritual heroes
Likewise range the jungle of the life-cycle;
Not fond of the sweet gardens of pleasure,
They thrive in the jungle of sufferings."

From the opening verses of The Blade Wheel of Mind Reform, as presented in Robert Thurman’s “Circling the Sacred Mountain.”

The Buddhist is a warrior, not a drowsy contemplative.