Please note this section is part three, you can find the second part here: The Motivator.

 

I am currently reading the book Personality Types by Don Richard.

It is quite a fascinating book that goes in-depth of character types that are common throughout civilisation.

In this series I will summarise each type and what makes them unique.

I thought it was fun to learn more about myself.

The book describes which activities you should avoid according to your personality, and which activities will be healthy for you to grow.

 

 

 

Personality Type

The Individualist

The third type is The Individualist.

This is the creative soul.

The highly sensitive individual.

The person who are always "searching for themself".

It is the one who is always reflecting on their relation to their experiences and how it makes them feel.

Through whichever medium they use, they are able to project and communicate feelings in a clear and profound way.

They are always true to who they are and if anything does not feel congruent they are unafraid and unapologetic in rejecting it; "I don't do this, this is not who I am".

They are the ones who can take past experiences and create moving stories whether in film or writing.

Being highly articulate in the realm of feelings they are the born storyteller.

Having a vivid imagination, they see the world in terms of stories, characters and symbols.

They are a very passionate person, able to take an encounter which seems trivial to some, but if they feel right, they can dwell on it for weeks; "When I saw him/her, I just felt it in my heart, he/she was the love of my life".

In other words; The hopeless romantic.

They can be difficult to work with as they are guided by their feelings and therefore do not care much for deadlines are being agreeable.

This personality loves feeling and is in many ways addicted to feelings, whether happy, sad angry or scared.

When they feel, they feel alive; "I don't care whether I cry or laugh, but make me feel something".

Example of The Individual: Amy Winehouse, Johnny Depp, Michael Jackson, Picasso, Kanye West

 

Healthy Level

 

At a healthy level The Individualist is the true artist.

Highly tuned in with their feelings they have a strong connection to their unconscious; "I don't know, it just feels right".

While reflecting a lot on their own feelings, they are not self-absorbed. Rather, they take in impressions from the external world and combine them with their unique view to create something beautiful.

At this level they are highly productive, taking their ideas and feelings and organising them into works of art in their chosen field whether it is writing, paintings or lines of code.

They know that by creating they slowly discover the essence of who they are, like a sculptor chipping away at a block of marble until a statue emerges.

At this level, The Individualist allows themselves to take in the world in full, with all of its unique experiences.

They are highly curious and constantly open to new experiences.

They draw inspiration from the most unusual places which they use to create new things never seen before which could be paintings, writings, products, etc.

 

Normal Level

At a normal level The Individualist starts to turn toward their inner world.

They start to become less productive and more passive.

At this stage, they dwell on their feelings.

They start to feel confused and then reflects on why their feelings are making them confused.

Now, they start to search for themselves internally, rather than through externally through their work.

Being a sensitive person, The Individualist is afraid of judgement, therefore their work never gets produced, except in their minds.

From being a gifted artist at the healthy level, The Individualist now merely thinks of themselves as an artist.

They go from being an artist to identifying as an artist.

At this level they start to close off the external world and turn to their imaginations.

They now believe they can only produce great work when they are inspired.

To become inspired they believe they must feel something intensely.

This creates the start of an addiction towards chasing feelings.

 

Unhealthy Level

At this level The Individualist have completely withdrawn from life and turned towards their imagination to make their existence bearable.

Now they start to live in their own imagined worlds.

This is also where the self-hatred begins.

The Individualist at this level start to feel like a failure who have wasted their time, opportunities and accomplished nothing.

They start to feel guilty for even existing, and not contributing any thing worthwhile to humanity.

Self-destruction such as smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse starts at this level.

By using substance abuse they can numb their pain.

Whereas before they wanted to feel, now they want to avoid feeling anything.

They become empty shells who go through life in a sleep-state.

At this level, they develop a victim mentality.

They become deeply envious of others who are happy, and start to blame friends and family for their misery.

 

 

 

 

An Overview Of The Individualist

What The Individualist truly wants and cares about is understanding themselves.

They need to constantly express themselves and their feelings.

When others admire or compliment what they create, they become truly fulfilled.

Getting this acknowledgement feels like their inner part of themselves being accepted.

The Individualist is, as the name implies, highly individualistic.

They are aware of their existence as an individual, that they are alone in their thoughts, but also, they can united with others in communication.

They are very philosophical, able to contemplate their existence, to look at both good and evil as well as laughing at the absurdities of life.

 

 

Parental Orientation

 

As a child, The Individualist did not connect to either of their parents. They did not feel a strong bond. They felt indifferent.

This may have come from their parents having marital problems, divorce, illness or because of personality differences.

Nonetheless, The Individualist did not see themself reflected in either parent.

This made them turn inward towards their feelings an imagination.

Turning inward, The Individualist started embracing a life of solitude, being comfortable with themselves and being able to comfort themselves, by themselves.

They felt the advice and reactions they got from their parents was generic and applied to any child, and not them particularly.

Further, they started to construct an ego based on an identity of being "different".

This meant they could comfort themselves and lift their ego by using internal phrases such as; "I'm different from them, they could never understand".

This also created a fear of "being normal".

Choosing a life of solitude, The Individualist naturally started to feel alone in life.

They felt their parents rejected them for reasons they could not understand, as they took very little interest in them.

Therefore, The Individualist started to think something was deeply wrong with them, as they could not get the love and attention they needed.

Because of this, they started to self-examine and search for themselves inwardly.

This lack of connection to their parents also made The Individualist search for "their soulmate" as they grew up.

They started intensely fantasising about the "perfect partner", who, unlike their parents, they could deeply connect to and would truly understand their uniqueness and love them.

This ideal creates much friction in relationships for The Individualist as they project their fantasies and imagines of impossible standards onto their partner.

As soon as their partner inevitably fails to live up to their incredibly high standards, they become disenchanted with them.

 

 

 

 

Ego Orientation

The Individualist ego is dependant on being different.

One of their greatest fears is being ordinary.

If they do not at least have their own uniqueness, then what do they have?

The Individualist is also terrified of people comparing their work to others, or even worse; accusing them of plagiarising the works of others.

The Motivators ego depends on their achievements and how others view them, as can be characterised by this inner monologue; "This work is not unique enough, people will think I'm copying this artist and will look at me as a fake".

Simply put; their self-worth is based on being unique.

 

At Their Best

At their best The Individualist is a highly creative and gifted artist, who is able to express themselves in ways that evokes deep feelings in others.

They are able to, through their work, create intense feelings in others through both laughter and sadness.

The works that they create contributes to the culture of humanity as a whole and exemplifies what it means to be human.

 

At Their Worst

At their worst The Individualist turns increasingly inward.

They start to live in their fantasies more and less in the real world.

By disengaging from the world they start to become bitter and develop hatred towards themselves.

They are now the angry, bitter and self-pitying person who feels they exist solely to suffer.

They start to increasingly become trapped within their own minds.

Rather than produce and communicate with the world, they start to create things only in their minds and never realising anything.

 

 

 

What To Avoid

 

Being in touch with themself and reflecting on their feelings is what The Individualist does best.

However, being trapped in their own world is what The Individualist must avoid.

By spending all day fantasising and imagining a perfect world they become increasingly disappointed with reality.

Further, by only analysing themselves and not creating, The Individualist becomes increasingly frustrated with themselves; "I've wasted so much time". 

 

 

 

What To Do

The Individualist must learn to become disciplined, consistent and realistic.

What is more, they must not see this as punishments (deadlines, schedules, etc), but rather desire these things and see how they allow them to produce.

In order to find themselves and their uniqueness they must consistently create.

By creating they communicate with the world and become increasingly connected to it.

They start to find their place in the world.

The Individualist must fantasise less about the perfect world and start to look at, and accept the world for what it really is.

They must also start to view people as they really are, and not what they fantasise them to be.

 

 By being consistent and disciplined, The Individualist will continuously produce work that is increasingly unique and valuable.

And, what's more, they will find their true selves within the bigger picture of their creations.

 

 

Major Subtypes of The Individualist

 

The Aristocrat

The Aristocrat subtype is the ambitious creative who wants to succeed with whatever they have deemed success to be.

It is the more extravagant subtype who likes to surround themselves with fine objects and people of "refined taste".

They have a need for their work to be accepted by critics they deem worthy of criticising their work.

This subtype is the more extroverted with better people skills.

They are also the more goal-oriented and practical person.

When they create, they have an audience in mind who will find their work valuable.

They are more attentive to what others want and able to portray a favourable image.

They tend to be paradoxical as they want to make their mark in the world, but fear success as it comes with exposure and a higher possibility of humiliation.

 

The Bohemian

The Bohemian is the much more introverted, quiet and sensitive type.

This type is the philosopher, the thinker.

They tend to be much more reclusive and solitary than the other subtype.

They do not care much of what other people think of them and therefore come across as eccentric to most people.

Caring little about what others think also means they are free to pursue whatever catches their interest, no subject may be too strange for them to explore.

This subtype is often drawn towards art.

Often, the most original and avant-garde creations come from this subtype as they do not care about whether it will please others.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

As we can see The Individualist has created an identity based on being different and unique.

They are highly sensitive and creative spirits who can stir up feelings within others through their creations.

To truly become their best selves they must learn to become disciplined, consistent and communicate with the world.

They must consistently produce in order to find themselves within their own creations.

Finally, by combining their incredible imagination and rich feelings with a practical mindset they are able to make creations that contributes to the legacy of humanity at its highest level.

Everything written here is my understanding and simplification of this personality type.

If you truly want to understand this personality type in depth, I highly recommend reading the book Personality Types by Don Richard where this information is extracted from.

The pages for this personality type is 135-172.