Suzanne Mercier - Wednesday, May 26, 2010
|
When I talked about imposterhood in the early days, I was so excited
that I'd discovered the reason I had sabotaged myself for so many years
that I thought everyone else would be as excited as me. I was wrong. In more
than one situation, I offended members of my audience who misunderstood
me - for which I am responsible - and thought I was accusing them of
being an imposter. These people became quite defensive and verbally
attacked me in the middle of my presentation. I quickly recognised that
others might not be as excited as I was about discovering their
self-sabotage patterns. I became sensitive to the language of
feeling versus reality - of feeling like a fake and fraud, of feeling
not good enough.
|
|
|
Many of us confuse our identity with our behaviour and while the Imposter Syndrome refers to a faulty self-belief - which does relate to how we see ourselves - we are actually talking about feeling not good enough and the behaviour we engage in so we can protect ourselves from discovery and exposure.
It always felt as though I was walking on the glass of other peoples' sensitivities, so the problem has been sitting in the back of my mind for quite a while. In conversation with a colleague a few days ago, the solution emerged. When someone is triggered by uncertain circumstances into feeling vulnerable and is exhibiting the symptoms of the Imposter Syndrome, that person is "imposturing". They are engaged in the process of feeling like an imposter and engaging in the protective behaviours to avoid others seeing them that way.
I think it's a solution ... and I may well be kidding myself. This is, after all, a confrontational subject.
What do you think? I'd love to hear.
All the very best
Suzanne
Comments
Post has no comments.