personal growth
FEELING LIKE A FRAUD? Social Media Might B e G i v i n g Yo u Imposter Syndrome By Emma Neufeld
We’ve all been there… it’s 9:00pm, you’re winding down from a busy day, you grab your phone and open Instagram. You start scrolling through your feed, looking at the photos and your brain starts doing something like this:
“Wow, Sarah is in Mexico with her family again. It looks beautiful.” “Oh my, Cathy is back at the gym, she’s looking amazing!” “Holy smokes, Julia secured another client this month. She’s really killing it.” After a while, you close your phone and crawl into bed for the night. Now, your brain starts to do this:
“Mexico looked nice, I wish I was there.” “I need to adjust my schedule and make more time to go to the gym.” “Why am I not as successful as her? Maybe I’m not good at what I do.” There’s no better way to make yourself feel small than by comparing yourself to others. It’s a habit that makes you doubt your own talents and abilities. These feelings certainly affect our personal lives and usually spill over
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into our professional lives. Often, even when you receive recognition for things, you may feel phony like you don’t belong where you are and you only got there through dumb luck.You feel like a fraud. These feelings are called imposter syndrome (a.k.a. IS) and it’s very common for people to experience it no matter their social status, work history or degree of expertise. Fun fact, the term is not as modern as you may think. It was first used by psychologists Suzanna Imes and Pauline Rose Clance in the 1970s. It was originally thought to apply mostly to high-achieving women. Since then, it has been recognized as more widely experienced. IS has a variety of negative effects on our everyday life. It can lead to increased anxiety or depression, loss of sleep, low self-esteem, stress and loneliness. As someone who spends the majority of their time on social media for work, I am guilty of falling victim to IS and letting it take control of my emotions and life - sometimes for days at a time. However, there are ways to overcome those feelings and it’s important to recognize when you’re having them and use healthy tools to move forward. Here are 4 tips to help you battle IS and be your most authentic self:
