Life's challenges are multiple daily decisions that have ramifications, both big and small. Navigating the pot holes in the road of Life is something that is conditioned upon experience, upbringing, morality, culture, education, skill and common sense. Life is Hard.
But in many ways, Life was easy for the many of the main LOST characters.
Closing one's eyes to the problems around you so you don't have to confront them (or your fears) was symbolic of many relationship issues throughout the series. When Jack opened his eyes in the bamboo field after the crash, it was symbolic of Jack going on a journey to deal with the problem he had put off until it was too late: reconciling his issues with his father.
Likewise, Kate kept a blind eye to responsibility and accountability for her actions. It seems she was never punished for her childhood transgressions. She learned that your cute charm could get people to do her bidding. She never seemed to work hard at anything because people, boys, would try to help her. Her eyes only opened when she uncharacteristically decided that she needed to help Claire, a stranger and fearful young mother, with the birth of Aaron and his later rescue to the mainland.
Hurley also had an easy life. His doting mother gave him a home and plenty of room for Hurley not to have to work hard. The safety net of his mother's love closed Hurley's expectations for himself. He was ashamed about himself. He had self-esteem issues. He was closed minded about his future (like working as a fry cook would be his career). He was self-conscious about meeting women because he lost the feeling of love when his father abandoned him. It was when Hurley closed his eyes and went into his dream world did he find comfort with his one true, but imaginary friend, Dave. Hurley avoided the need to make hard choices by being in a mental institution where he had no pressure to do anything.
Even if one went wide eyed into a new venture, it does not mean he would see the truth. That was Locke's problem: no matter what path he tried to take in his life, he would stumble and be made the fool. He was blind to the fact that other people used his good nature against him. When he dreamed about himself, it was of a grander man that he could ever become in real life. And that image of himself haunted his daily life to the point where he went from meaningless and unfilled job after job with little responsibility or expectations for himself.
Many characters kept their responsibility meters off. They did not want to confront their own problems in such a way to be accountable for their own mistakes. They would rather wallow in self-pity than change. It was only by the basic instinct of survival did any of them actually have to come to terms with their closed minds to make some sort of personal mental redemption. One can skate through life with your eyes closed to the harsh realities of life, but in the end that is not really living.
