#tough

• Arduous — Executed or taking place with great difficulty, requiring sustained efforts, patience, time, and energy; characterized by structural obstacles or hardships that are difficult to surmount. Referring to roads, terrains, or routes, the term describes a rugged configuration that is difficult to traverse and tiring for travelers.
• Aspidistra — Popular and scientific name for an ornamental perennial herbaceous plant, native to the shaded forests of East Asia, frequently cultivated as a houseplant due to its exceptional resistance to adverse conditions; it is characterized by large, lanceolate, dark green, glossy leaves that grow directly from a subterranean rhizome, also known by the metaphorical name 'cast-iron plant' due to its capacity to survive in spaces with dim light, dry air, or high temperature fluctuations.
• Stringy — Containing many threads, long, tough, and resistant fibers that are difficult to chew or separate; fibrous, filamentous. In botany and culinary terms, it describes vegetables or fruits that have passed their optimal maturity and developed woody filaments. Figuratively, it characterizes a lean person with dense, fibrous muscles, or behaviorally, a stubborn, rigid, difficult individual.