This is a GREAT thread ! A welcome departure from some threads of late.
Firstly; Kudos to Silver - that was a brilliant article, I truly enjoyed it.
It also was a timely article of reminders for me, in that, I was actually strongly considering taking a break from the forum for a bit. My premise is that with fly fishing being a sport I have long loved and enjoy the camaraderie of sharing and engaging with other anglers, should never be a source of aggravation as we have enough in everyday life. If it becomes such, one should potentially pause to never risk loosing the passion for an enjoyed pastime.
Silver's article reminded me of some of the many reasons we fish, and also why enjoying time with others sharing the same passion is an interlaced part of the greater experience of angling with fly. S&S also provided, by PM, the reasoning of the forum filling a gap for each of us during off angling times, of sharing knowledge and experience as a quality off time substitute for the soul filling act of angling itself.
It is these types of thought and emotion provoking topics that feed our appetites for mutual understanding of this addiction we all share.
I don't believe anyone can truly articulate what another feels may be required skill sets of us each individually while angling, whether that be mental toughness, or otherwise. But I do believe we can all understand without prejudice or judgment, that it holds something different and unique for each of us, but yet, of eerily similar impact and importance.
I would add that I would perceive fly fishing to be a passion, a pursuit, a connection, an escape with which to have a gathering of scattered pieces of one's mental and emotional makeup. I believe it takes a level of mental toughness to live life in general, for some more than others, but fly fishing, I would speculate, allows one the ability to escape the need to hold oneself accountable to any level of daily life demands, and to simply be. Just be.
As such, I think angling gives us that license of permission to leave mental toughness and the associated other attributes demanded by daily life behind for awhile, where absolutely nothing becomes everything possibly needed, perhaps, in those moments, that realization, in and of itself, is why we love fly fishing.