Imposter Syndrome Isn't True

Let’s talk about Imposter syndrome.

Have you ever put down a book mid-read, so in love with it and the writing, that you just hated to continue because you knew you could never write something as beautiful?

No? Just me, as I read Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See ? Cool, cool.

Well, I bet you’ve felt like an imposter at least once in your life, or in your writing journey. I was chatting with a friend about it last week and she reminded me that everyone is a beginner at some point. And it’s OK to be a beginner. 

And just because someone is writing or has written something you love so much, or something similar to what you’re writing, does not mean that there is not enough room in the world for both. 

I wonder, if you accept that imposter-y is part of the process, does it help? Think of it as part of the formula for success:

You have an idea > you start to work on that idea > you realize someone already wrote it > you panic, wanting to give up so that you can be different, better, something else > you accept that you feel like an imposter because you care so much about what you’re working on > you accept that you may always have a bit of that fear of not being “something enough” because the world is filled with comparison thanks to social media and societal conditioning > you keep writing anyway because you enjoy it and you are enough and what you’re doing is important and valuable because it’s part of you 

OK, if you’re still here after that chunk, thanks so much for sticking around. I just so much want to impress upon you that other people’s opinions of you are none of your business (something I repeat to myself daily as my anxiety-brain tries to tear me down).

I want you to know, that it’s ok to feel like a fraud, it’s ok to feel like there are so many things you could be better at, because you are not alone, we ALL have these feelings from time to time. 

Just because you feel them doesn’t make them true.