Today as I was coaching several of my great clients a word popped into my head- fortitude.
I started thinking about how some people have strong fortitude- which stems from strength of mind- some have it situationally and some are undeveloped in this area and anywhere in between. After almost 23 years as a coach, I truly believe that no matter what, anyone can develop it. The ability is within all of us.
What’s important about developing fortitude? More and more in life we are faced with challenges we don’t see coming. This is on top of the expected challenges of every day life. Fortitude allows you to meet danger, pain and adversity with courage, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary. It is an important strength to cultivate in order to live our best lives.
Putting yourself in challenging situations on purpose, taking on challenges, creating your own challenges (all things I have written about many times in this blog) are key. Cultivating what is known as a growth mindset is the essential to increasing fortitude, along with a heavy amount of self care including mindfulness practices like meditation and prayer.
People with a growth mindset see challenges as opportunities. The embrace the chance to learn and grow. They believe that they and things can get better. They have a can-do attitude toward getting past obstacles. Taking time to reflect and review set backs without judging yourself will help you increase fortitude more quickly.
Study compassion and self compassion. Thinking about yourself kindly, recognizing what you are doing right before reviewing weaknesses and mistakes- these are crucial. This will help you to create reserves to stay strong.
Being positive, hopeful, optimistic and can-do in spirit will help you to keep going when things look the bleakest. A good dose of humor also goes a long way.
Pick one area to start working on, intentionally. Who will help you? Who will hold you accountable?
Remember- in order to strengthening our fortitude, we have to be paying attention to all of the things we hear about constantly. There is no way around these. Eating good food to fuel us, movement and sweating, along with plenty of rest and good sleep. I would add having some fun in there, too.
Fortitude is something you strengthen and cultivate over time. What is your first step to take today?