Going Against The Grain ( making things difficult by acting against the wishes of others ... )

You go against the grain when you make life more difficult by acting against the wishes of others. Example: "Why can't you just do it the way everyone else does? Why do you always have to go against the grain?"

Wood grows in a way that makes it easy to cut in one direction (with the grain) and hard to cut in the other direction (against the grain). Example: "I jog at this track every day and there is always that one guy who has to go against the grain and run in the opposite direction."

To go against the grain is to do things in a way that is different from what is normal and accepted. Example: "You can't always follow other people in life. Sometimes you need to go against the grain to do the right thing."