Sisu
Sisu is a Finnish word variously translated as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience,[1] and hardiness.
not to have a single-word literal equivalent in English (tenacity, grit, resilience, and hardiness are much the same things, but do not necessarily imply stoicism or bravery).
In recent years, sociologists and psychologists have conducted research on sisu, attempting to quantify it and identify its effects, beneficial and harmful, in both individuals and populations.
The English "gutsy" invokes a similar metaphor (one also found in other languages): the Finnish usage derives from sisus, translated as "interior", and as "entrails" or "guts".
It has been usually studied as a cultural component among Finns and Finnish Americans,[5][6] but as a psychological construct long remained under-researched and poorly defined.
The Finnish newspaper Uusi Suomi[7][full citation needed] reached out to its audience for their definition of sisu, and conducted a contest.
[8] In the study, sisu is described as a psychological key competence which enables extraordinary action to overcome a mentally or physically challenging situation.
[10] A related online survey conducted between March and May 2013 tracked the cultural representations of sisu among contemporary Finns and Finnish Americans.
Among the main findings was the perception of sisu as a reserve of power which enables extraordinary action to overcome mentally or physically challenging situations, rather than being the ability to pursue long-term goals and be persistent.
In Finnish, pahansisuinen, literally translated, means one possessing bad sisu, a description of a hostile and malignant person.
Sisu is a new term in the field of positive psychology, and it may contribute to our understanding of the determinants of resilience, as well as of achievement and the good life.
During the Winter War of 1939–1940, the Finnish perseverance in the face of the invasion by the Soviet Union popularized this word in English for a generation.
The Finns are not stupidly hiding their eyes from their future, but they are determined not to fall into another fight with a powerful and predatory next-door neighbor 66 times their size (in area, Finland is the sixth largest country in Europe; in population it is the third smallest).
Under popular, 81-year-old President Juho Kusti Paasikivi and able, unpopular Agrarian Premier Urho Kekkonen, the Finns have learned to walk the nerve-racking path of independence like tight-rope walkers.Well into the 1960s, sisu was used to describe the Finnish resistance to the invasion of 20 to 30 years prior and its continuing discontents.
The climate he's referring to is the bleak and bitter Nordic winters, but he might as well be talking about the competitive, erratic wireless-phone market and Nokia's travails.
In 2010, a 63-year-old Yooper named Joe Paquette Jr. of Munising, Michigan, walked 425 miles to the Detroit Lions training facility to bring the spirit of sisu to the team.
[26] The non-profit documentary SISU: Family, Love and Perseverance from Finland to America was made by Finnish-American filmmaker Marko Albrecht.
The documentary looks at sisu by means of a profile of his late mother, his Finnish-American family, and his uncle Heikki's fight against pancreatic cancer.
Sisu we can relate very much that in motor racing, for example, you're driving a rally car in a forest extremely, really fast, you need courage to be able to brake late, to go on the throttle really early, to go really close to the apex of the corners.
A starship with a crew of partly Finnish descent in Robert A. Heinlein's 1957 science fiction novel Citizen of the Galaxy is named Sisu.
[33] A World War II movie titled Sisu, directed by Jalmari Helander and starring Jorma Tommila, was released in April 2023.
