Do you suffer from Impostor Syndrome?

You know that awful feeling, as you put yourself and your creations or opinions out there, of ‘I’m a total fraud’, ‘They’ll find out that I’m not really who I say I am’, that ‘I’m not good enough’ and, ultimately, ‘I’ll get into trouble’.

Here are 3 thoughts about this 'disorder'!
1. Did you know that Impostor Syndrome wasn’t even a thing until 1978?

It started out as Imposter Phenomenon, with an article by two American psychologists, Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, "The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention."

I find it ironic that the people – both women and men - who seem to suffer the most from this, who most judge their abilities and find them wanting (and beat themselves up about them), are the ones who are achieving the most!
Crazy, right? Whatever it’s called (or spelled!), and however irrational it is, it continues to plague us!

2. How does it show up?

Well, often as the Four Ps: Perfectionism, Paralysis, People-pleasing, and Procrastination.

And it feels horrible. Self-doubt, anxiety, shame - even as I write I can feel it buzzing in my head and my gut - not to mention all the negative thoughts that can spiral quickly into full-blown panic.

All those bad feelings slow us down, or even stop us completely from moving forward; on the projects and goals we truly want to achieve, (and initially felt happy and excited about!)

3. So what can we do about it?

Personally I believe that trying to convince someone in the grip of Impostor Syndrome, perhaps with the use of excessive encouragement, or with affirmations or good advice, is missing the point.

This is not something that we can reason ourselves out of, not on a long-term basis anyway.

It goes too deep and has roots from way back.

After all, we all start out in life not knowing how to do anything; always a kind of mini-impostor, always feeling small and unsure, always surrounded by big people who look and sound confident, like they know what they’re doing!

As is so often the case, awareness is key. Followed closely by love and acceptance.

So with EFT Tapping you can start by saying: ‘Even though I feel like an impostor, I love and accept myself completely.’

And from there you begin to shift the energy around this old belief, even looking back at specific events when you felt embarrassed or incompetent.

Until you get to the place where you understand that it’s not actually real, it’s just yet another thing that’s been programmed in over the years, and can be let go of, without any danger to self or others.

Join me in this EFT Tapping to clear out Impostor Syndrome and get to a place of feeling great about putting yourself out there once more.