what does this ' it' which i added an asterisk to refer to?

The teenage Mary Beard's wish was a fantasy, an imagining of how things could be better but in fact were definitely not going to be anytime soon. Our contemporary thirteen-year-old's wish is instead a desire. She wants a thing that
she very well could have, if only something (or someone) were not keeping it out of her hands. The nearby reality of a wish's fulfillment changes its status from fantasy to desire, and so makes it reasonable to be unhappy in entirely new ways.
This is why the last mortals will have *it particularly bad. Until now, the wish for immortality" was mere fantasy. No one has ever lived beyond 122 years, and no one has reasonably expected to do so.

Question

what does this ' it' which i added an asterisk to refer to?

The teenage Mary Beard's wish was a fantasy, an imagining of how things could be better but in fact were definitely not going to be anytime soon. Our contemporary thirteen-year-old's wish is instead a desire. She wants a thing that
she very well could have, if only something (or someone) were not keeping it out of her hands. The nearby reality of a wish's fulfillment changes its status from fantasy to desire, and so makes it reasonable to be unhappy in entirely new ways.
This is why the last mortals will have *it particularly bad. Until now, the wish for immortality" was mere fantasy. No one has ever lived beyond 122 years, and no one has reasonably expected to do so.

isthmus_x · Answer

@meektaste

The best answer I can give you is –

“the general situation which they are experiencing“

There is not enough context in this text to tell us what mortal people are going through, or how they should be understood, in comparison to those who seek immortality.

All I can tell you is that most of the time when somebody says – such and such a person is having a hard time of it – they mean that the general situation of that person is not very good. Their life is difficult.