Struggling With Imposter Syndrome?

Do you feel like a fraud? If you feel like you are experiencing imposter syndrome then you are not alone🙅‍♂️🙅‍♀️.

Feeling like you are not good enough can consume your life. Are you feeling like you are not worthy, you are not valuable, or you are never good enough? You may have felt like this for so long it feels natural to you. These feelings can cause you to feel lost, unsure of what you’re doing in life, and confused about what to do next. These feelings may feel overwhelming and certain situations or events can cause them to be triggered. However, you do not need to feel like this❌.

You can learn to manage these thoughts and feelings you’re experiencing. You can break free from the cage of self-doubt and flourish into the best version of yourself✨. The version of you, you deserve. You deserve to enjoy the life you are living and not be crippled by your inner critic. You deserve happiness🙌.

👆Why Is It Important To Learn About Imposter Syndrome?

👉 Being aware of imposter syndrome can help you to recognise when you're experiencing it so, that when it occurs you can effectively manage it. Helping you to let go of feeling like you’re never good enough and embrace all the value you have. 👉 Imposter syndrome can adversely impact your mental health and wellness. Research has demonstrated imposter syndrome to be linked with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and somatic symptoms (physical symptoms of mental health disorders e.g., feelings of panic or insomnia, etc.,). In addition to impaired job performance, job satisfaction, and increased levels of workplace burnout (Bravata et al. 2020).

👆What Does Imposter Syndrome Look Like?

Everyone experiences imposter syndrome differently. Some of the signs of imposter syndrome are detailed below:

🔷 Feeling like you are a fraud and you have only gotten to where you are by luck or mistake. 🔷 Doubting your ability despite you having evidence of the contrary. 🔷 Feeling like you are not good enough or as worthy as your peers. 🔷 Extreme overthinking and analysing your actions/work etc,. 🔷 Feeling internal pressure to be the best. 🔷 Avoiding starting a task because you’re overwhelmed or scared that you won't complete it to the unattainable standard you have set. 🔷 Avoiding opportunities out of fear. 🔷 Having difficulties with setting/keeping boundaries and taking on additional work that you are unable to manage because you believe this will prove your value. 🔷 Relying on external validation to feel worthy.

👉 Imposter syndrome example: John felt like he wasn’t enjoying life. He was consumed by feelings of low self-worth and anxiety. He felt lost in life. He was unhappy with how his life is at present but he also didn’t know what to do next. John always compared himself to others, he felt like they were “better” than him, and had achieved more than he had been able to. He acknowledges he has a good career but he doesn’t feel like he deserves the position he has and believes he got there by chance. He was scared to try new things and take on new challenges, despite opportunities he would like to take. He was scared he wouldn’t be good enough so he avoided trying. John felt overwhelmed and put intense pressure on himself to do well. After a while this caused John to experience symptoms of anxiety. He began to experience workplace burnout because he often found himself taking on additional tasks to please his boss. As a result, John was unable to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Mary also experienced feelings of imposter syndrome. However, Mary realised that only she can determine her self-worth and she had to take action when she felt like this. Mary would remind herself of all the things she had achieved already. Although she would have thoughts that she didn’t deserve these achievements she would look at the facts and evidence and not entertain these doubting thoughts. Mary would remind herself of how hard she has worked and acknowledge the effort she has put in to get where she is today. She would talk to herself kindly, in the same manner, she would to a friend if they expressed these thoughts. Mary also knew that other people's opinions of her shouldn’t determine her self-worth. She knew that the power to feel worthy and valuable was hers and hers alone. This was her responsibility and she took it seriously.

👉 Treating Imposter Syndrome.

It is difficult to treat imposter syndrome as it is not officially recognised as a mental health disorder. Despite there being a plethora of research acknowledging the syndrome exists. As a result, there are no evidence-based treatments recommended that therapists can rely on to treat people experiencing imposter syndrome (Bravata et al. 2010).

Below are some suggestions that may help: ❇️ You need to learn how to be proud of yourself. ❇️ You need to acknowledge your efforts and celebrate your successes. ❇️ Focus on all of the great you are doing and affirm that despite your self-doubt, you have achieved everything you have so far! ❇️ If there are more things you would like to achieve then that’s ok but don’t forget how far you have come. ❇️ Make sure you are doing things for yourself that align with your values and not to gain self-worth from others.

✍️ Activity: Recognising And Acknowledging Your Self-Worth

✍️ Think about what value you do have to give. Do not worry if you find this difficult, that is ok. It is ok for you to sit with this and think about it for a while. Be aware that it is also normal for you to doubt the examples of values you think of. This can be because you have perfectionist tendencies and believe anything less than perfect is not valuable. For example, I am good at meeting my deadlines. Only for your self-doubt and critical self to chime in and remind you of the one time you missed a deadline. ✍️ When you have created a list of all the values you have to give (which will never be complete as your value is endless!). Think about the critical comments you say to yourself. These critical comments are symptoms of imposter syndrome. Write them down and then completely reframe them. For example, if you have written “I’m not as smart as my peers” reframe this to the truth “I work alongside my peers, we all thrive in our areas, I bring value, or else I wouldn’t be in this position”. This can be very difficult for you to believe but it is true. ✍️ It can feel so easy and even natural for you to focus on any perceived flaws you think you may have. But, you can learn to change your mindset surrounding how thinking about these flaws makes you feel inside. To do this, think about a flaw. For example, “I made an error when I did this..”. Now, instead of feeling the negative emotions thinking about this creates. Think about how making that error benefited you. For example, what did you learn from this? How would you handle this differently in the future because you have now gained experience? Everybody makes mistakes, nobody is perfect. If someone you cared about made a similar mistake, how would you respond to them? Now treat yourself in the same manner.

Sometimes feeling like you aren’t good enough is normal but if you are experiencing this regularly and excessively you might be experiencing imposter syndrome. 🤗 Happio can help you on your journey of realising your self-worth and flourishing 🤗.