If you were to ask yourself honestly, would you recognise the imposter when they come to visit you? Imposter syndrome almost seems like a welcome stranger in the natural flow of life. At times, we all question our abilities because we are constantly taught this, through a particularly harsh form of social and cultural conditioning.
You are always enough! I want you to think that through because the imposter you run away from is stealing that from you, every time you doubt yourself instead of leaning into love.
When you learn to expand through mindfulness, you learn to love everything about yourself again. You discover below the surface that you are enough in each present moment as it arrives. Whether you make a mistake, even after being full of fear to try, what you did was always enough.
Where does the imposter show up in your life? Does the imposter infiltrate your personal life, filling you with doubt about your abilities to make good decisions in relationships? Does the imposter show up when you feel judged, triggering past experiences where you doubted yourself? Through social and cultural conditioning, the imposter becomes the constant delivery driver of your acceptance of the judgements, that others place upon you as you grow up.
When the imposter shows up in your life, they can stay for what can seem like forever, until you welcome them with love and let them go on their way. A beautiful example of this is when we have learned through judgement that we are not good at something as a child, and we carry it through life as an adult. It is like the imposter hitchhiker that never got out of the car.
When my mother was seventy years old, I suggested that she read a book on Quantum Physics, to understand energy better. Her response to me was;
‘You have got to be joking right! I am no good at science and maths, never was’.
There it is, an imprint, followed closely by an imposter, and they stuck to my mother from the age of seventeen to seventy. It happened to you, it happened to me, and it is happening all around us, to all the people we love and cherish. The truth is we can stop it at any time. We can change the lens we look at ourselves through. We can learn to love ourselves again. The way it was always meant to be.
Does the imposter make your working life full of stress, fear and anxiety? Does it hold you back from trying new things? Does it hold you back from embracing new opportunities or speaking up in a meeting, with that great idea you have? Imposters are literally wreaking havoc in our workplaces and left unchecked, they are impacting the bottom-line success of our businesses.
When people feel confident to speak up, when they are encouraged to make mistakes, the imposters leave the building because we are then fostering a culture of being enough. That by showing up and giving it your best is enough, and that mistakes are how we grow both personally and our businesses.
I learned to love the imposter. Crazy right! It is actually completely true, and I bring you this beautiful message directly from my heart to yours. I have learned to bring a sense of fun into life when I recognise when the imposter arrives. The imposter is many things to me now. Sometimes the imposter is alerting me to an opportunity to grow. Sometimes it brings me an opportunity to understand myself better and to let go of things in my life that no longer serve me. Sometimes the imposter is just a little bit of fear of the unknown. I lean into love with my imposter. Leaning into love brings me understanding, compassion, forgiveness and courage to give it a go anyway.
What is the worse thing that can happen? I can fail, and failing is the only way to know what does not work. If you want to know what works, you need to learn what does not. No one gets it right the first time. Eddison took more than a thousand goes to invent the light globe. So why are we all so scared of failure, when failure is a necessary precursor to success?
The imposter can become your friend, just like it has become mine, along with those whom I’ve helped. It is as easy as learning to be willing to lean into love.
Would you like to know more about how you can learn to love your imposter? Reach out for a FREE mindfulness discovery session today.
It all begins with you. What are you choosing to do with all that power?
#jeanettepeterson_authenticity
