Fortitude
(Determination, resilience, perseverance)
(Lesson 2)
Context:
A person’s background and life experiences can shape the development—or lack—of fortitude. Often, individuals who have faced few difficulties, obstacles, hardships, or tragedies may not have had the chance to build strong inner resilience. Of course, this isn’t always the case. However-
Bone Remodeling- How it relates to building fortitude
Just as bones grow stronger through bone remodeling—the process described by Wolff’s Law, where stress and pressure stimulate growth—our inner strength, or fortitude, develops the same way.
When bones experience load, they adapt by becoming denser and stronger.
Likewise, when we face challenges or setbacks, our minds and character can grow more resilient. Without pressure or struggle, both bones and people weaken over time. Fortitude, like bone strength, is built through resistance, not comfort.
Necessary Hardships, setbacks, and trials?
Does this mean we need difficulties to develop fortitude? Or that if we’ve had an easy life so far, we can’t build it now? Not at all.
What matters is taking time to reflect on the difficulties and pressures we have faced—and how we responded to them.
Did those experiences make us stronger, more willing to take on challenges, and more persistent during hard times? Or did they make us more hesitant, cautious, or quick to give up?
Try This:
Think of a time(s) growing up when you faced real pressure—maybe a challenge, a setback, or a situation that tested your limits.
How did you respond at first?
What did you learn about yourself through that experience?
Looking back, do you think that moment helped you grow stronger or more resilient?
Your response to life’s challenges can shape your fortitude—often without you even realizing it. The goal is to become conscious of how those difficulties have impacted you in the past and how they may still be influencing you now.
Write down your observations in your journal, then discuss them with your group, friends, or family. Did they respond to challenges and setbacks in a similar way, or differently? What do you think shaped their reactions?
Don’t judge,-just notice.
The goal isn’t to judge how you reacted, but simply to notice how you reacted. Pay attention to how the hardship, difficulty, or obstacle affected you—and how it may still influence the way you respond to challenges today.
Once you understand how those experiences shaped you—how and why you reacted as you did—you can decide what’s needed, if anything, to strengthen and build your fortitude moving forward.
Habits of Mentally Tough People: 3 and 4
3. They Focus on What They Can Control
Mentally tough people spend their energy on actions within their influence rather than worrying about what they can’t change. By focusing on their responses, decisions, and mindset, they stay calm and confident in uncertain situations. This discipline keeps them productive instead of reactive.
4. They Thrive on Adversity
Adversity doesn’t scare them—it sharpens them. People with fortitude use tough situations to test and refine their skills. They are often more uncomfortable in their comfort zone than when facing new challenges. They turn disruption, uncertainty, and even pain into forward momentum.
How about you?
Metacognitive Assignment
This week, you’re already noticing whether you’re someone who prefers to stay in your comfort zone or someone who enjoys taking on challenges.
Also, take some time this week to notice what types of situations cause you the most emotional or mental stress. Is it when you feel like you’ve failed? When you find it hard to learn or understand something? When you’re pushed or challenged? Or when a tough situation doesn’t seem to be changing or improving, and it starts to feel useless to keep trying?
Recognizing the types of situations that drain your energy or weaken your motivation can help you see where to focus in order to strengthen your fortitude.
Thought of the day.
"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places." — Ernest Hemingway