It's not easy

(life is) not a bed of roses = (das Leben ist) kein Zuckerschlecken(that was) not a bed of roses = das war nicht einfach

sample Text:

The road to the lucrative India market has not exactly been A BED OF ROSES for H&M.(The Business Standard)---David Beckham has spoken about how being on loan at Preston helped develop his career and that it made him understand that real football was not always A BED OF ROSES.