Imposter syndrome is a multi-tentacled thing that presents differently in each person, but one of the most enduring and insidious ways it shows up in myself, is the feeling that I need to work myself to gristle and bone in order to complete a piece of work.
That if I don’t feel as if I am gasping and overwhelmed, then it means I’m not working hard enough. In more extreme situations, the cost is that once once I complete the work, my immune system goes on strike, and I melt into the sofa, unable to get up.
There are plenty of other ways my imposter syndrome presents itself – if I am in a room where I am glaringly the minority, if I feel I’ve been asked to do something I’m not 100% skilled at doing, or if I am in the presence of much more successful people and am being asked to talk about my work.
I’m not sure I’ve yet found the answer to any of those beyond ‘fake it till you make it’, and praying for racial and gender parity, but with regards to snuffing out the need for constant overwork, I think I have found something that works for me.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to As I Was Saying with Poorna Bell to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.