If you were to build your dream home, what would it look like?  Would it have five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a den?  How about a 12-seat theater room with lush seating and Dolby Surround Sound speakers?  Maybe a heated indoor pool with Jacuzzi?  Or perhaps an exercise room that would rival that of Bally’s and Gold’s Gym? 

Now that you’ve outlined plans for the aesthetic features of the house, what materials will you use to build the framework and structural skeleton of the home?  Considering your specifications, you’d have to use strong, durable materials to support the house both internally with its bedrooms, bathrooms, theater set-up, Jacuzzi and exercise room and externally to endure annually harsh Winters, rainy Springs, windy Autumns and blistering Summers. So it makes sense that you’d want the strongest, most solid, durable and enduring materials possible to protect your investment.  Most likely, then, your architect will recommend using metals to build your home.

Metals in general have high electrical and thermal conductivity, luster, density, and the ability to be deformed under stress without coming apart.  Metals such as aluminum, copper, steel, zinc and terne are most used in the construction of residential and commercial buildings in the Unites States because they are strong, versatile, durable, corrosion-resistant and pliable.  They are also energy and cost efficient, virtually maintenance-free, provide long service life, are recyclable and have aesthetic appeal.  Most importantly, homes built with metals are able to withstand the external demands of the seasons while accommodating the internal demands of homeowners.

Let’s picture ourselves in the same vein as our dream home.  It’d be nice to be smarter, faster, more attractive, wealthier, more popular, etc., right?  (I, for one, could stand to be a little taller and, admittedly, a little thinner).  While we each have a respective laundry list of aesthetical features we could easily and readily demand, it’s our foundational and structural character that should command our greatest attention for without a strong, durable structure, our proverbial dream home (a.k.a. whom we aspire to be) would be structurally unsound.  We would waver, wobble and eventually fall.  Like our physical dream home, our proverbial dream home requires a framework or structural skeleton made of mettle.

Mettle is the inherent quality of character, temperament, disposition, fortitude and spirit of a person.  Mettle is the intrinsic material that is able to withstand the external demands of the seasons – harsh job market, rainy economy, windy housing market and blistering personal finances – while accommodating the internal demands of homeowners – our individual desires to work harder, be smarter, think faster, save more money, etc. 

Like metal, mettle is strong and durable to meet demand; versatile and pliable to meet any challenge; and corrosion-resistant against rust or the problems and burdens that can weigh us down.  It is energy efficient so as not to drain us of our other resources (i.e. love, faith, happiness, etc.); provides long service life to endure recurring issues; and is virtually maintenance-free – doing its job automatically without prompting, booting or ignition.  What’s best is that mettle is recyclable and renewable so that you always have access to an abundant supply when you need it most.

As mentioned earlier, aluminum, copper, steel, zinc and terne are the metals most used in brick and mortar construction.  Heart, nerve and spunk are the “mettles” that make our metaphysical structure.  Although synonymous, each plays a uniquely distinct role in the building of our character.

Heart

Known as the center, core or innermost part of our personality and emotion, the heart gives us the capacity to tune into our intuitions, feelings and affections.  It allows us to experience benevolence, compassion, concern, love, pity, sentiment, sympathy, tenderness and understanding as well as summon courage, boldness, bravery, purpose, spirit and will.

Nerve

Nerve awards us with daring and brazenness.  Nerve emboldens us, gives us strength and offers us assurance, bravery, chutzpah, confidence, coolness, courage, determination, endurance, fearlessness, fortitude, grit and might.

Spunk

This quirky idiom delivers to us audacity with a hint of arrogance. Spunk gives us a backbone.  It’s the “stuff” determination, doggedness, fortitude, gumption, guts, intestinal fortitude, moxie, pluck, resolution, toughness and defiance are made of. 

We can easily identify these mettles in others…

• The weary and worn boxer who battles valiantly through twelve brutal rounds of fighting against a much larger opponent is said to have heart.
• The film director who defies convention by directing a film on a taboo subject is considered to have nerve.
• The sixth grader who sets off on a 2,500-mile “March Across America” from Tampa to Los Angeles to raise money and awareness of the plight of homeless kids in America is believed to have spunk.

 …but often find trouble recognizing them in ourselves.

How comfortable would you be if the metal in your dream home was only strong enough to support the house during fair weather? You’d be very uncomfortable and consider that house with the unreliable metal structure a poor investment of your time and money.  You’d also find it unsafe during inclimate times and impractical for everyday use because of its unpredictability.  

When you ignore, depress or suppress your heart, nerve and spunk, you lose the ability to be reliable and structurally sound to yourself and to others.  In other words, during those “hanging in there” moments when situations rock you, you don’t have the intestinal fortitude and wherewithal to push through and past them.  Your structure is weak and unpredictable.

These mettles don’t just provide structure, they build character all-year round, in both good and bad times.  They help us survive and give us the support, stamina and endurance needed to overcome obstacles, withstand defeat, endure hard trials and laugh in the face of failure. 

They also service as our personal coaching and mentoring team providing us with the validation needed to be more of what we want to be (successful, prosperous, happy) rather than be resigned to what life dictates we should be (troubled, worried, anxious).  Spunk encourages us to do something audaciously spontaneous; nerve to do something brazenly bold; and heart to do something brave and spirited.  So, the next time you feel uncertain, unsure or afraid, rest in the guarantee that your heart, nerve and spunk will kick in and give you the courage, daring and determination you need to make a decision, stand on your convictions and move forward towards the goal ahead.

Go ahead…build that dream home!

Final Thought

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson