Is ‘R’ Type Personality the New Type ‘A’?
How do we flourish in this changing environment we are now in? To do so we need more than Resilience, now we need to have Transformative Resilience. This is the ability to learn, grow, and spring forward. These are the people now being referred to as Type Rs.
By having Transformative Resilience we can learn to frame our challenges into an opportunity rather than a problem. It leads us to new approaches and questions about how to best address an issue. We learn to ask ourselves things like, what other doors might open for me now? What other things might I now choose to do? What changes do I need to make? It is how we respond to ‘what’ happens to us rather than simply focusing on what ‘is’ happening to us that has the greatest effect on the trajectory of our lives after adversity.
What characteristics do you already have? Which ones need work/developing on?
Adaptability. This is that fine line between knowing when to hang on and when to accept the changing world around us and thereby begin to alter our outlook, goals, and plans. Knowing what you can and cannot change and when to adapt and reframe to find positive outcomes, is a critical skill in today’s world.
Establishing a Healthy Relationship to Control. This involves having a strong sense of when to exercise control, when to persevere, and when to let go. Believing everything is outside of our control and nothing that we do matters is unhealthy and causes us to stagnate, but believing that we alone are responsible for what happens to us is only healthy to a point. By taking on too much responsibility for ourselves and the world around will cause us undue stress because this doesn’t take into account external factors. Type Rs learn to assess what is within their sphere of influence and what is not, realizing that strength isn’t always determined by triumph over the outside world but sometimes by changing their inner world.
Continual Learning is important as by knowing ourselves and reflecting on situations we encounter we are able to extract the lessons we need, better preparing us for future challenges. By being aware of what is happening in our world we can learn and adapt in anticipation of coming challenges rather than reacting to them - become curious, it's vital to adaptability and intellectual growth.
A Sense of Purpose will keep us grounded and in line with our values keeping us on course and in a set direction. Whilst also providing us with the means to find meaning in whatever we are going through. Note: It will also have the power to inspire those around us because a person with a strong sense of purpose can more easily remain engaged and satisfied with life or work even while they are experiencing challenges.
Leveraging Support Don’t go it alone! Often when we are growing from adversity, there is a sense of being alone. When building resilience it is important that we have a strong network of people we can count on both personally and professionally, providing a safety net and a sense of security whilst also helping us to have some time to reflect, create perspective, and think about the challenges we face.
Active Engagement is when the Type R mindset, its various characteristics and skills are combined with forward motion Transformative Resilience takes place. While challenges are stressful, research shows that those of us who focus on the challenging dimension of a stressful circumstance, rather than seeing it as a threat, experience a different form of stress. This is because, their fear reaction is suppressed and instead a response linked to hormones and parts of the brain associated with positive emotions and learning are triggered, thus encouraging active engagement.