An untranslatable Finnish word captures a vulnerability and perseverance we all share
At some point in life, all of us get that unexpected call on a Tuesday afternoon that distorts our world and makes everything else irrelevant: There’s been an accident. Or, you need surgery. Or, come home now, he’s dying. We get through that time, somehow, drawing on energy reserves we never knew we had and persevering, despite the exhaustion. There’s no word in English for the specific strength it takes to pull through, but there is a word in Finnish: sisu.
This concept, for Finns, is a key feature of national identity. A study published this week in International Journal of Wellbeing seeks to define sisu in a manner that can be understood by English speakers. “Sisu is a Finnish word that goes back hundreds of years and a quality that Finns hold dear but the phenomenon itself is universal,” Emilia Lahti, author of the study and doctoral student at Aalto University said in a statement…
10 easy things you can do for a mental recharge
We all have those days — the ones that feel never-ending, like everything that could possibly go wrong has, and that leaves us wondering how on earth we’re supposed to get up and do it all again tomorrow.
When that happens, sometimes a good night’s sleep is enough to recharge us enough to conquer the next day — but sometimes a little more TLC is required…
