Intestinal Fortitude - Bipolar Disorder Message Board

wilkdawg · 05-07-2009, 12:51 PM

I know that my replies to others have been my most helpful and well-received posts so far. However, in my own day-to-day "adventure", I often come up with revelations regarding my own success in coping. Then, I want to share with others in an honest effort to spread the knowledge, to help others cope. So, here goes.

The title of this post is "Intestinal Fortitude". For those who have never heard the expression, here's the best definition I could find:

"courage; resoluteness; endurance; guts: to have intestinal fortitude."

I wish I came up with that one but my most recent revelation has to do with WHERE this particular strength comes from. The BRAIN is located in the skull but where is our mind located? What little our scientists knows can only explain what aspects of the brain are connected to emotions, the mind and any other intangible concept with which we claim to perceive our daily life. When we realize that our brain is the problem, we feel like we can't trust ourselves. We feel that the tool with which we perceive the problem IS the problem. But the phrase 'intestinal fortitude' implies that strength comes from GUTS, a concept we associate with a part of our body that is NOT our brain.

If I have managed to navigate one bad day successfully, I feel I have to figure out why and then share it with you guys. The other day, I went from planning to call out of work with no plans for my classes to showing up to the building to improvising through classes to finishing a day of work. I was getting some lunch and finally slowed my momentum enough to ask myself how I had gotten that far. Really. Im sure you've done it. At some point in the day, you do a double take and ask yourself "How did I get here?". My answer, that day, was intestinal fortitude. I think we all learn or must learn to conceive of strength that is not related to our mind/brain. This may lead to us storing said strength in all sorts of conceptual locations, such as the GUTS, and forgetting about them. But they are there when you need them and the forces in our troubled minds cannot touch them. You develop a DRIVE, a PUSH. Is it a perfect method? Of course not. Sooner or later, our diseased minds find those locations, ransack them and leave us laid out. You know what? You take the hit and start storing strength all over again.

That was just a post that's been forming in my mind for days. I hope it made sense and was food for thought. I'm glad to have this forum so I can unload this stuff. You can also skip all this and try to find a way to convert DreamsInNeon's willpower into liquid form and inject yourself with it. Whatever works.

John

dreams in neon · 05-07-2009, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrwilkey

You can also skip all this and try to find a way to convert DreamsInNeon's willpower into liquid form and inject yourself with it. Whatever works.

John,

Great post!

I couldn't help but smile at the last sentence of your post. If truth be told, I don't give up easily and I'm certainly not going to let bipolar defeat me. I'm sure there are many others on the board who feel the same way.

windimeria2000 · 05-07-2009, 08:24 PM

I think the word your looking for is Resilience.
1. the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity.
2. ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy.

dreams in neon · 05-07-2009, 08:28 PM

Actually, the word fortitude is also accurate since it means that a person possesses the mental and emotional strength to face adversity or difficulty.

Llama · 05-07-2009, 08:29 PM

Good post John! Thanks for that!

It's definitely food for thought.