The Cure to Imposter Syndrome
Learn how to dance with your self doubt
“When you have public confidence but private doubt”
My personal flavor of private doubt tends to taste like imposter syndrome.
We all live with an inner critic. Sometimes it lives quietly within us and other times it seems like it has a megaphone to our ear and all we can hear are our own self doubts. It's especially loud when we try something new or different.
This year especially I’ve taken on the challenge of trying something new – teaching. This new opportunity to grow has also brought along a new opportunity for self doubt.
I notice that as I get older, I put more expectations on myself to have it all figured out. I sometimes take hours to write a simple newsletter because I'm battling with my own inner critic along the way. "You aren't a writer/artist/teacher...". The list goes on. It makes me wonder how anyone is able to confidently move through this world without being paralyzed by their own self doubt.
Do people just pretend to be confident? Or is it possible to access a deeper and more true self confidence inside of us?
I can just speak from observation and say that some of the most confident people I know are those who embody humility.
I know. It sounds counterintuitive. How can you be truly confident by also being HUMBLE? Isn't humility equated with low self confidence?
Actually, humility is not inferiority. Humility is self honesty.
Humility is the kind of honesty that isn't afraid to be corrected. That isn't afraid to remain a student. Humility is a deep, sincere honesty that gives birth to confidence.
Maybe confidence is just being honest with who we are, and STILL choosing to show up. Maybe confidence is accepting that we are a work in progress, and STILL striving to do our best. Maybe confidence is being vulnerable enough to make mistakes and humiliate ourselves, and STILL putting ourselves out there.
Confidence is knowing our limitations and STILL continuing.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
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