You can lessen a good bit of the early grief of steel strung acoustic guitars, with a good set up and using light/low tension strings. Optima make a low tension set and, having tried them, they do make a difference, although sound projection is somewhat reduced (as you’d imagine).
My usual words of encouragement for this 'harder on the fingers' issue...
'It's the first forty years that are the worst, after which things sometimes have a tendency to get slightly better.'
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