Imposter Syndrome
| March 2, 2014 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
I had never heard about imposter syndrome until I got to vet school. Apparently it’s REALLY common among vet students (and when you first graduate and beyond). Its a feeling that you aren’t really good enough to be there. That any moment someone is going to find out you are a totally fraud, de-mask you and exile you to the fringes as you deserve.
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- How to easily and intuitively back a trailer
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Thanks!
Absofrigginlutely! You are constantly working, striving, stressing, overcoming. There is nothing wrong with surrounding yourself with positive reminders of your accomplishments– and supportive people who not only cheerlead for you but sometimes kick your butt when you need it too! 😉 🙂 GO MEL!
Also, HAHAHA at Tess’ epic photo bombing! Especially the third one
Lol. She’s always trying to convince me I forgot to feed her breakfast…..
I know exactly what you mean. I think people who are goal vs process oriented tend to be like that. I know I thought that when I got out of college I would “feel” like an engineer. Instead it was a “Hey, wait a minute! I don’t know as much as I need to! We can’t be done yet!” (I still occasionally feel like a fraud when I try and use my calculator and have to look in the owners manual to figure out how to perform a calculation that I could perform in my sleep 20-yrs ago.)
It goes to my riding also. I still feel like a beginner; yet some of the stuff I can point to are definitely NOT beginner skills.
In a way it is good as long as it does not get out of hand. The feeling keeps us striving for more knowledge and to get better than we are.
I agree that in moderation this is good and it creates a drive that opens the door to great accomplishments. But like you said its being able to keep that feeling at the appropriate levels.
Many years ago, my friends told me in no uncertain terms that I was to stop referring to Dixie as “crazy Dixie.” She wasn’t noticeably less crazy after I made the huge effort to eradicate that adjective from my thinking and writing, but that’s when she started to improve. What you think really MATTERS. Quietly basking in your accomplishments really MATTERS, almost as much as what you’re doing to set up your next goal. I’m glad we helped! 😀
(And poor Tessie. She’s trying so hard to teach her stupid human to give her what she wants! “Must use baby language with the two-leggers.”)
Oh, this is so timely. I’ve actually had a draft post about imposter syndrome in my blog queue for a few days now!
Graduate schooling of any kind tends to really confirm this in goal-driven people. I know I struggled throughout my master’s program with these feelings, and they’ve only gotten worse since. My diplomas are buried in a pile of papers on my book shelf, and I never feel like I’ve really accomplished goals despite having what most people would call a successful life.
So yeah. I feel you.
Really inspiring post, dear sister! It really is all mind games we play with ourselves: I know there are things to be proud that I can do well (lol the world tells us to be proud of things we prolly shouldn’t even be proud of…), but when I find myself wanting to think of an aspect in a goodish way, the part that says it’s not good to boast (even to myself?) steps up and chastizes. I don’t see this as self esteem –oh how I abhor that phrase tho– so much as wanting to be realistic.
Ex: I like to think I can sing. As I get older, I realize I am not a special butterfly, that other people can sing better than I — a lot of them. So do I base my voice on what other ppl think? In a certain way, it has to be objective…if no one can stand to listen to you, how does that answer the realist in you?
In a different fashion, I’ve always loved to write. Thought pretty highly of myself. Never capital P published, but never tried too hard (…yet. rar.) Other day, friend asked me to look over his novella. We chatted writing, he fancied himself quite fig jam and wanted to enter a contest.
Ummm. It was baaad. So makes me think: am I really as good as I like to think I am? I don’t know.
So long story short, I guess, is that your post is really thought provoking, as I feel strongly about this to the point that I’m tapping this out letter by letter on my phone 🙂 Keep it up!
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