Imposter Syndrome, we STILL do NOT claim!
As a follow on from the last blog post we now present our experiences with imposter syndrome and how we managed to work through them, or at least trying to!
As mentioned, I am a 19-year-old student currently doing an internship with the fabulous Sarah Denise Studios, and honestly I was so incredibly nervous coming into this. My first time in the office I felt as if I did not want to take up any space and that everyone around me was not just older but more experienced and looking at me as if I was someone's child that had been brought into the office for the day. Now I look back and I’m like whatttt??? Of course no one thought I was someone’s child, how silly that sounds.
Now I know that hindsight is a blessing, and we can always look back at a moment with current knowledge of the situation and make better judgments. But this is not always the case, and as much as I can say how silly it was for me to feel as I did when first starting out, that is how I felt, I cannot change it but I do wish that I never felt it. Some ways that I managed to muster up the confidence to actually do my job was to accept the praise, recognise my hard work and view myself in the bigger picture.
Accepting praise is a really hard thing I know, even when someone compliments your outfit it is very hard to not just respond with, “oh this old thing, I’ve had it for years”. However, shifting your mindset from feeling like a burden to the person complimenting you to knowing that they would not have said it unless they meant it makes all the difference. When Sarah told me that I was doing a good job the first thing that came into my mind was oh it is probably just because she is being polite, nothing to do with the actual work. Now after shifting my mindset I realise that Sarah said that cause low and behold, I was doing a good job, and I put in the work to get that praise.
Would you ever turn to a friend after they got a promotion and say, oh well I never saw you working that hard. No, you would not, and if you do, you are probably not a very nice friend (hard truths). So why on earth would you say that to yourself, why would you undermine all the work that you put in.
In the sense of the bigger picture, I’m not trying to overwhelm you and make you feel like a tiny spec in a big world, but honestly you are. However, you are in that big world, you made it. Think about it, how many people applied for that job, yet you got it, and even if you did not get it, how many people submitted their CV and yet you got an interview. The world is a big place, yet there is room for you, so take it, you earned it.
Now I’m saying all this but this is exactly what I did, I could not accept the praise because I was not recognising the hard work that I had put in and was not viewing myself as part of a bigger picture. However, I’ve learnt and now I'm sharing, I’ve learnt from experience so that you don’t have to. When you are in these situations, just remember that even if you do not feel as if you deserve it, you’ve got it, so might as well make the most out of it.
Peace and Love,