UPDATE: wow, never thought this post would take off this much! thanks
In: Other
When the person telling you you don’t deserve to be where you are is you.
When you think maybe you’ve been lying to yourself about how you got there.
When the person telling you that you don’t have the skills, knowledge or professional acumen to be where you are is YOU.
It’s the feeling of not having earned the situation you are in, and somebody is going to come and tell you there’s been a mistake and you shouldn’t be here.
Randy Blythe, the leadsinger of Lamb of God put it very well: [https://youtu.be/TTrGnWXk53k?t=141](https://youtu.be/TTrGnWXk53k?t=141)
“They are going to find out, I don’t know who they are or what they are going to find out, but they are going to find out and it’s all going to be over real quick.”
Oh this one I’m qualified to answer. Maybe.. ?
It’s when you feel like whatever praise and success you get in life is through either you being a good actor, or other people being stupid. The feeling that you aren’t actually ever competent enough in anything, and your main skill is looking confident.
To feel like you’re always bluffing your way through and that you’re way less qualified for whatever you do (job, relationships, hobbies) than other people think. Or not deserving of the stuff you’re getting. Often accompanied with the fear to be exposed as the unqualified or undeserving person you think you are.
Its your anxiety telling you that you don’t deserve what you have. The feeling you dont deserve what you have , that it should belong to someone else
It’s like if Barney didn’t feel like he was a nice dinosaur, even though he has his own show and everyone likes him. He still feels like someone else would make a better dinosaur and that someone will make them feel bad.
Hi, sufferer of Imposter Syndrome since I was 10.
Short version: you do anything good, but your brain goes “you fucked up, you don’t deserve praise, you’re a fuck up that won’t get anything good in your entire life, kill yourself”. Etc.
Imagine working your entire life towards a goal. Something basic for example, let’s say you want to be good at free throws. You practice tirelessly, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for years you have thousands of hours put into getting good at shooting free throws. You can make on average not 9 out of 10, but 99 out of 100 without missing. Then one day you are with a bunch of people who know how to play basketball, you don’t know how good they are, maybe some only ever played in elementary school decades ago, maybe some play every weekend a t the rec center, maybe among them is someone in the NBA, but it doesn’t matter, because even though you are either of equal skill, maybe even better, even after you have sunk Dozens of free throws in front of them you begin to doubt yourself. Even though you have just made your 50th consecutive free throw now you are uncertain, am I bending me knee strangely when I do this? ten more shots, 60 in a row no misses, you start to wonder if you look silly. 75 consecutive free throws made and you havn’t missed a single shot but now you’re wondering if they’re judging you for not shooting the ball high enough, 90 baskets made no misses and maybe you think you are throwing it too high now. Finally after your 100th basket made, no misses, absolute perfection, the self doubt becomes so intense that you cannot bring your arms up for a 101st shot. You are so absolutely certain that the people around you, are better than you, and deserve to be there at the court more than you despite not knowing anything about their skill level or background, that you cannot bring yourself to shoot even one more shot. THAT, is what it feels like to have Imposter Syndrome, even if you were to somehow achieve absolute inhuman perfection in your field, you would still be CERTAIN that you either aren’t good enough, or don’t deserve to be there as much as your peers.
ELI5: how do I overcome my constant impostor syndrome?
no matter how much someone accomplishes they constantly feel as if they have no worth and that they are an imposter of what other people see them as.
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