There is no getting around the fact that life can be tough!
It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, you will undoubtably face setbacks and disappointment at one time or another.
As parents its only natural to want our children to be happy all of the time, we do our best to sheild them from failiure, setback and disappointment in the belief that we can protect them from disappointment and failiure and this in turn will keep them happy. However in reality this is doing them a huge diservice by taking the disappointment away from them. We should focus on fortitude, resilience and regulation first and happiness second.
Fortitude in many ways is the abilty to experience a wide range of emotions and still feel like ourselves. It helps us bounce back from stress, failiure, mistakes and adversity in our lives. Fortitude and resilience allows for the emergence of happiness. Developing fortiude and resilience doesn’t mean you become immune to stress and struggle as these are unaviodable facts of life, but it does determine how we relate to those difficult moments as well as how we expeience them. The ancient Roman philospher Epictetus once stated “ its not the things that upset us, but our judgments about the things” this suggests that our emotions and reactions are not directly triggered by external events, but rather by the interpretations and judgements we make about those events.
And this is where I come in…
Academic attainment is very important but I firmly believe that it is your mindset that really determines how your lifestory will develop. We need to build a society with fortitude so that we can face the challenges of the future. Cultivating fortitude will help you navigate the uncertainties of the future.
Building moral character is developed the same way we learn motor skills. Recognising what is correct is not enough we need to practice it continuosly so it becomes our automatic response and only after intentional practice do rational responses become unconcious, natural reations.
To develop and practice these skills I lead fun, enaging, practical based and teamwork orientated sessions as a tool to facilitate discussion around mindset. Children have the opportunity to fail and struggle in a safe, supported and enabling environment empowering them to face any future obstacles with fortitude.
If you’d like to discuss how I might be able to support your young people get in touch now!