THE IMPOSTER IN YOU.

THE IMPOSTER IN YOU.

If you constantly deal with the feeling of self-doubt, not being enough, not doing enough or not wanting to make big moves to avoid failing, you just might be dealing with a certain “Imposter” in you.

You have achieved so much, done so many things of relevance, watched others praise or be in awe of your talents and abilities but somewhere deep down, you feel like you’re irrelevant and undeserving of it all.

You come across people from your past and automatically feel like everyone is doing so much better than you and you’re not making strides. You suddenly start to feel like you’re a failure and you have not achieved anything meaningful. This right here is a phenomenon called the Imposter Syndrome.

It comes with the inability to give yourself grace and to appreciate yourself or how far you’ve come. It comes with self-doubt, attributing your success to external factors like luck or timing, fear of failure and overworking oneself.

There are five types of Imposter Syndrome given by Dr. Valerie Young:

1. The perfectionist: They feel they must do everything flawlessly.

2. The superman or super woman: They push to work harder than others to prove their worth.

3. The Natural Genius: They believe competence should come easily and they struggle when learning becomes difficult.

4. The Soloist: They feel like asking for help makes them incompetent.

5. The Expert: They constantly seek more knowledge to avoid feeling inadequate.

If you find yourself in any of these categories, you just might need to cut yourself some slack and properly deal with this Imposter by:

1. Identifying these Imposter thoughts and crushing them.

2. Refraining your thoughts and focusing on facts and evidence of your achievements. If it means having to document every milestone, then do it.

3. Accepting your mistakes and focusing on ways to be better.

4. Setting realistic goals and not beating yourself up when you do not meet them.

5. Talking to God and someone that can help.

Imposter Syndrome could lead to anxiety, depression, burnouts, low self esteem and other negative things. As God’s children, we deserve to do much better and we’re worth so much in every way possible.

And if the only thing you do today is reflecting on how far you’ve come and embracing the version of who you are now, I’m proud of you because this is the first step you need to take to fight against the Imposter in you. Love