Today I posted the website for the first time on Facebook. And if I’m being completely honest, it was a little terrifying.
Although we’ve been working on this kitchen for over a year, and I’ve made tons of food for family and friends for years, opening a business and in a way, opening up yourself, to everyone - including strangers, is a little terrifying. There were half a dozen times today that I wanted to take it all down. Isn’t that crazy? I recently read a book called, Everything Is Figureoutable, by Marie Forleo.
In the book she talked about imposter syndrome and everything she said about it, hit home with me. Here’s a snippet of what she had to say;
“Part of identifying imposter syndrome in yourself is feeling that you’re a fraud, like anything that you accomplish or anything that you achieve is somehow a fluke or a mistake. According to research, imposter system actually affects up to 70% of us. But once we start to identify that even people that we admire and respect have those same kind of thoughts, we then start to normalize and realize this is universal for human beings. I think it’s particularly pronounced for women. As women, and members of other traditionally underrepresented groups, it’s easy to look around and feel out of place or like we don’t belong. Socially, we’ve been conditioned to self-deprecate and downplay our abilities. Which can lead to low self-esteem and self sabotage that adversely affects every sphere of our lives.”
Two things that I’ve read to do, to counter these feelings is to;
1) Celebrate your successes. People who struggle with impostor feelings tend to brush off their successes.
2) Let go of perfectionism. You don’t have to lower the bar, but adjusting your standards for success can make it easier to see and internalize your accomplishments.
Anyway, if any of you are like me, and feel these feelings from time to time, just know that you’re not alone.
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