Cultivating Your Cultural Superpowers
When you’re truly engaged in your study abroad experience, you begin to develop a set of (what we like to refer to as) cultural superpowers!
In his 2022 book Like a Fish in Water: How to Grow Abroad When You Go Abroad, author Rich Kurtzman identified 10 of these “cultural superpowers”. We’ve seen students cultivate these time and time again during travel:
Adaptability
Empathy
Resilience
Perseverance
Sense of Humor
Self-Awareness
Communication
Curiosity
Confidence
Optimism
Students taking part in our Jetsetter program complete a cultural superpowers quiz at the beginning and end of their study abroad experience ranking themselves on a scale from 1-10 for each superpower. They can then compare their “before” and “after” results and see how they’ve grown throughout their time abroad. Even if you’re not on our Jetsetter program, we recommend you try this too.
The personal and professional growth that comes from developing these skills, or “superpowers”, is more likely to happen when you’re actively processing and reflecting along the way. This could look like journaling, drawing in a sketchbook, or de-briefing with a group of friends in the evenings, for example.
Let’s break it down a bit further:
ADAPTABILITY. This is the ability to be more spontaneous. A change in plans doesn’t throw off your day. You face unknown situations with little fear.
How to cultivate adaptability: Set yourself up for success. Learn the local language. Have a mindset of flexibility. Ask questions. Observe. Don’t take yourself too seriously and be willing to make mistakes. Keep an open mind. Look at each new experience as a chance to learn.
EMPATHY. When you’re empathetic, you can see something from another person’s perspective. You understand their viewpoint or their emotions even when they differ from your own.
How to cultivate empathy: Keep an open mind. Learn about and understand cultural differences. Approach people with curiosity. Know that it’s okay to have different opinions or ways of doing things. You may even challenge your own biases and preconceptions.
RESILIENCE. If you are resilient, you can go through difficult events in life, bounce back and carry on. This doesn’t mean you don’t take time to process what has happened, but you can withstand adversity and come out stronger at the end of a negative experience.
How to cultivate resilience: Build your support network and surround yourself with people who lift you up. Explore opportunities for self-discovery and develop a strong understanding of yourself. Use a gratitude journal. Manage stress. Manage expectations. Catch yourself when you spiral into negative thinking and believe everything has a solution. Accept change as an inevitable part of life.
PERSEVERANCE. You’re not afraid to fail because you see failure as a step in the process of learning something new and an opportunity to grow instead of something that brings you down.
How to cultivate perseverance: Pay attention to your inner voice and the stories you tell yourself. Vincent Van Gogh said, “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you can’t paint’, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” Work on setting your fear aside. Have a clear vision, understand your “why”, and know what drives you. Reflect on what went wrong and what you can learn from it.
SENSE OF HUMOR. The ability to lighten the mood can be especially valuable in difficult situations. You have an optimistic mindset and don’t take yourself too seriously all the time. Laughter connects us and has great mental health benefits.
How to cultivate a sense of humor: Sometimes things simply don’t go the way you expected they would and the best thing to do is to think about how one day you’ll look back and laugh. Maybe it’s not so funny now but will make a great story in the future. Try to see beyond your current situation. Practice building your humor muscle in everyday situations and it will be more accessible when something negative happens.
SELF-AWARENESS. People with self-awareness know their values, beliefs, preferences, and boundaries. They understand their strengths and weaknesses, know what makes themselves tick, their most useful skills, what drains them of energy, and what lifts them up.
How to cultivate self-awareness: Research reported by the World Economic Forum has shown that living abroad increases people’s self-awareness because it “prompts self-discerning reflections on whether parts of their identity truly define who they are or merely reflect their cultural upbringing.” Write in a journal while abroad. Consider your goals. Track your habits. Try meditation.
COMMUNICATION. This can refer to the ability to speak a second language, but also to make yourself understood in both written and oral form, and to have great non-verbal communication skills too, like actively listening and watching, making eye contact and using body language to emphasize your words.
How to cultivate communication skills: Practice tuning into body language and non-verbal cues when you’re traveling, making eye contact, and using gestures. You may not always share a language, but that’s not the only way to connect with someone. Travel will help you develop cultural sensitivity if you pay close attention and keep an open and curious mind. Develop a consciousness around your ability to actively listen during a conversation.
CURIOSITY. Curiosity is a thirst and constant search for knowledge. You wonder about everything. You want to know more about the people you meet and the places you explore, and you seek out this information through questioning and research.
How to cultivate curiosity: Keep an open mind, ask questions, listen actively, absorb information, and reflect and analyze what you are learning. Be willing to try new things and to learn from your mistakes. Tune into your senses too: Notice what you can smell, hear, see, taste, and touch as you move through the world around you.
CONFIDENCE. You believe in yourself and your abilities and this leads your daily decisions. You understand your strengths and weaknesses. You set realistic goals and work toward them knowing that with hard work and focus you can accomplish them.
How to cultivate confidence: Surround yourself with positive and supportive people. Accept that making mistakes and failure are normal. Spend some time developing an understanding of yourself. Practice positive self-talk and try to notice and minimize the negative thoughts that pop into your head. If you struggle, working with a mentor or even a therapist can help you strengthen this skill.
OPTIMISM. Simply, you have a positive outlook on life. You are hopeful about the future and confident that life will present you with opportunities if you carve out the right path for them to arise. As Winston Churchill once said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
How to cultivate optimism: First, find a desire within you to become more optimistic. Focus on the positives while staying anchored to a sense of realism. You might keep a gratitude journal, focus on the present through a mindfulness practice, and be consciously kind to others. Catch yourself in negative thought patterns, notice your choice of words and whether they reflect an optimistic viewpoint, and visualize positive outcomes.
If you’re interested in learning about ASA’s Jetsetter program, contact Dr. Katie Roller DiDonato at katie@academicstudies.com.