Fortitude

I could have gone with Perseverance, but it didn’t quite have the ‘oomph’ I was looking for.

Fortitude: courage in pain or adversity [noun]

– from the Latin “fortis”, i.e. “strong”

Synonyms: courage, determination, mettle, strength, endurance, grit

Yes, Fortitude is definitely my word for today/this month. It’s one thing to persevere, persist, keep on going at something – be it good or bad. It’s a very definite level up to be able to persevere in the face of adversity, hardship, trials, and plain old hurtful pain (psychological, emotional or physical – one could debate endlessly about which is toughest). This is the kind of situation that calls for all the #resilience, #strength and #courage that one can muster, in order to persevere with fortitude.

It kind of makes sense that this would be the theme of my final blog post for the year – to have kept going since the start of the year, to complete my mission of posting a thought on the 1st of each month. Yes, I have persevered and reached my personal goal (one of many, really) for 2021; and whilst the blogging itself hasn’t exactly required great “fortitude”, many other aspects of my life has. It is for this ongoing determination in the face of the challenges that 2021 has brought, that I am taking a moment to be grateful for. It is almost 2022, and I can’t wait. Bring on the finish line for this year and let’s start planning how our days in 2022 will [intentionally] be.

It occurred to me recently that the thing between life and death is HOPE.

Yes, death can come at any moment for the unprepared soul. However, in the case of freewill death, it is a matter of whether one will choose to roll over and tap out of the game, or to keep fighting in the ring no matter how hard it gets.

So there you have it.

Mortals Mope

but

Humans Hope

– Reset & release

Choose to stay in the gloomy greyness of a lacklustre life, moping about how lousy everything is and always will be, and you will find yourself as mortal a mortal can be – deteriorating into a dark shadow of a being, with a limited life that ends with a dark period[.]

On the other hand, embrace your gift of Human-ness, which includes the God-given ability to plan, anticipate, and Hope for a desired outcome, and you cross over into the realm of infinite possibilities. Hope is the immortality factor, grounded in our innate eternal-mindset. Why else would humans be so fixated on living forever?

#reset your outlook on life if it’s a mopey one

#release your God-given ability to hope with fortitude

My December goal: To dance at least once a week for longer than 15 minutes. It’s time to celebrate – the year is almost over.