153. Truth, Self-Worth, and Imposter Syndrome
More Than Feeling Not Enough
Imposter Syndrome is a term that many of us are way too well acquainted with.
But what if it's not what you thought it was? What if it is the fear of you being so much more than you ever dreamed?
What if imposter syndrome is not the fear of not being enough or lacking in some way? What if it is the fear of what you will become when you integrate and enact your true abilities?
Erica shares her thoughts about what Imposter Syndrome is and isn’t and how it shows up as we expand what we think is possible and embrace our next best selves.
Listen on your favorite podcast player or keep reading to learn:
What we’re really afraid of when we experience Imposter Syndrome
Why imposter syndrome is so persistent for Black and brown people
How to embrace the next best version of you
The Real Fear of Imposter Syndrome
On the Pause on the Play® podcast, Erica says that Imposter Syndrome, or Imposter Phenomenon, was first coined in the late seventies by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes.
Imposter syndrome describes the feelings of not being good enough and having arrived at success out of pure luck or happenstance.
But, Erica says, there is more to it than being afraid of not being good enough.
Erica says, “Imposter syndrome is not the fear of not being enough…Imposter syndrome is the fear of what you will become when you integrate and enact your true abilities.”
The Messages Underneath
She continues that while anybody can experience imposter syndrome, it is particularly persistent for Black and brown people because of the constant messaging of not-enoughness directed at them.
Messages of “you should be grateful for what you have, don’t ask for too much, you’re not smart enough” are continually aimed at Black and brown people and have been for hundreds of years, Erica says.
But underneath those messages is the fear of “what happens when I recognize how strong I am?”
She adds, “What if that fear is coming from those that don’t want us to not only realize our own inherent power and capabilities but the fear of what happens [to them] when we begin to use these powers and capabilities?”
Fear of the Next Best You
Imposter syndrome is “about the fear of the true you, that next best version of you.”
Erica says that at the start, the fear was because “you had to be an imposter to get here…and now, the fear is not that you’re not enough, the fear is oh, this bigger shining, amazing person up here is me. What does it mean when I become that? What does it mean when I let go of the person I had to be to get here, this full version of me?”
Trepidation comes from moving into the big, audacious energy of being the fullest version of yourself when you’ve been told over and over again by the culture that it’s not you.
“The thought of you playing big scares some people. The thought of you playing big only scares you because you may not have embraced that possibility for yourself up to this point.”
She says, when you get to those points where imposter syndrome shows up in you, pause and remember that “not only is it preferable that you do this for you, but remember that you could always do this.”
Embracing the next best version of yourself and stepping into those possibilities is what we should do every time we outgrow the current iteration of ourselves as we evolve throughout life.
“Anyone who is ill-equipped to handle the shine that comes from you when you burn brightly, then they are not worthy of beholding the sight of you.”
Resources:
Pause on the Play Ep. 3: Is It Imposter Syndrome?
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