Imposter Syndrome

I have struggled with imposter syndrome in the past. Are you familiar with it?

Healthline.com defines Imposter syndrome, also called perceived fraudulence, as “involving feelings of self-doubt and personal incompetence that persist despite your education, experience, and accomplishments. To counter these feelings, you might end up working harder and holding yourself to ever higher standards”.

It’s like being a Type A and getting lots of great things done but deep down you believe you are a failure or a fake and secretly doubt you really did accomplish anything.

After years of working through this and finding ways to stand in myself and believe in myself, I have a HUGE concern about true imposters like George Santos who has a completely different take on accomplishments and values.

How is he still in office, oh wait… let’s look at new normal and the precedent (Oh, don’t worry, I get that this has been going on since the beginning of time, but now that everything is public and paraded on the internet, can’t we actually demonstrate morals, values, ethics, even just good behavior please!!!??) – so, the first politician that comes to mind from my history is Bill Clinton and his blatant abuse of power and misconduct, I don’t need to say much about Trump – it’s self-evident at this point, or is it? And now, the completely delusional and whack-a-mole mentality being accepted by those who are still allowing Santos to represent the state of NY and influence the greater country – what the heck?!?

Is this our future? Where delusional or manipulative people are going to have the ability to make decisions for us, speak for us, represent us?  Not in my world!  I’ve had enough of Santos and other leaders. I’m all for supporting mental health. That doesn’t mean I’m going to accept Narcissistic Personality Disorder / Compulsive Lying from anyone – republican, democrat, reptilian, or otherwise…  

I loved what Representative Forster wrote recently: “I am very pleased that my Republican colleague Dr. George Santos, who won not only the Nobel Prize but also the Fields Medal – the highest honor in mathematics – for his pioneering work with imaginary numbers, is a member of the Science Committee”. <source>

Seriously, this is what we’ve come to?  I feel for Santos as I wonder how he got to be a serial liar and how there appears to be no one in his life to remind him that lying will lead to ‘pants on fire’. I hope that he gets the help he needs, recognizes that he is doing more harm than good for himself and for people like my teen and her generation who already have less than a 16% approval rating of the USA right now according to a recent poll – and only 36% of Millennials are proud to live in the USA.  What does that tell us about how things are going?  Up until 2016, we didn’t dip below 80% of citizens being “extremely or very proud” to be an American. <source>

This is no different than what I see in the corporate / organizational environment in the States. Our younger generations, who make up the majority of the workforce are done with the games.  Whether in politics or in the organization, we need leaders who inspire, motivate, and create realities based on the greater good without the drivers of manipulation, self-centeredness, and greed. We are beyond needing hope. We need evidence that our lives are not suppressed, entangled, and destroyed by corruption of others.

I have an relative who keeps telling me she wishes the younger people would vote. I want to tell her this – they are voting, voting with their feet, voting with their choices. They know it’s a selection process, not an election process. They know that they can create change by doing what they want to do, the way they do it. I’m so impressed with the innovation taking place. I’m so thankful that these ‘leaders of self’ are not looking for the glory and spotlight. Yes, there are still the 34-year-old Santos types of the world who will bring absurdity and remind us the importance of mental health.  At the end of the day, we need to call out what we are seeing. When possible do it with kindness, or at least civil humor like Representative Forster wrote about Santos and his imaginary numbers.

The only way things will improve is if we call out what is not good and reinforce what is… so that is my focus for the near future. I do see positive change and I do believe most people are trying to make this world a better place!  Thank you to each of you for being among those courageous individuals who stand in their authentic selves. Keeping shining – we so need more of you and less imposters in the world.

Peace and love y’all, here’s to honoring the right people for the right things!