‘One of my readers brought up an important distinction about the Imposter Syndrome that I wrote about here. It made me want to explore this Imposter Syndrome’s double-edged sword with a single blade.

Let’s take a look.

In the traditional sense of the Imposter Syndrome, we’re not able to claim our own accomplishments, acknowledge our skills, our particular flavor of brilliance. We play down our role in a job, don’t ask for a raise or charge well for our services, and can’t easily speak about our contributions.

We feel like we’re a fraud, tricking someone into believing in us—because we don’t truly believe in ourselves.

Quoted from my reader, here’s the other side of the sword with, as I said, the same blade.

“The career path I was following was not mine. The part of me that wanted to feel valued and admired was following that path and inadvertently became a part of maintaining an unjust and broken system.

 

I have operated in survival mode for most of my life. And, because of the systems in which I am operating and the beliefs that I internalized, I created unconsciously from a place of proving my worth and earning value and earning belonging.”

If you followed a path that other people—parents, teachers, the over-culture—told you was what you ought to be doing with your life, you might go along with the plan for many years. You put up with the parts you don’t like because it’s just the way life is supposed to be.

Maybe there’s too much riding on you to make a change…too many people relying on you. Your various job perks, your good salary, the outer trappings of what is visible to the ones you want to show that you’ve made it, compensate for feeling “off.” Your quest for security and belonging far out weigh the lurking terror of being a powerless outcast.

But at a deeper level you feel like a true Imposter and it’s killing you.

“On the outside I did a fantastic job, but inside I felt the inauthenticity of it. I felt out of integrity. I felt shame. I felt the unworthiness and insecurity. Once I started connecting to the truth of who I was, the misalignments were painful and glaring and I’ve been bringing my life into alignment bit by bit.”

So on one side of the sword we don’t acknowledge our actual accomplishments, things we really did do. We discredit ourselves, feeling like our contribution to what happened was luck or it had nothing to do with us. We think we’re an Imposter.

And on the other side, we might be able to take credit for all the hard work we do, seeing ourselves making a contribution…but to what?

Here’s the rub.

If you see your efforts going to prop up an unjust system or you know your company is not what it says it is, how can you stand proudly in integrity in your job? Or what if you cut off your heart’s calling to be a creative entrepreneur, for example? Your inner soul knows you’re an Imposter every time you go to work.

My reader nailed the unifying single blade of the imposter syndrome’s double-edged sword when she said,

“I wonder how common this is, perhaps we simply push ourselves from a place of unworthiness and feeling disempowerment until we connect to our inner guidance and our personal power and make new choices.” 

Common indeed.

For each of us, this is all part of our life’s path—discovering who we’re not so we can know who we truly are. It can be painful for sure. But also exhilarating. As we realize how much we handed over to other people to define us, we get to reclaim the lost parts of ourselves.

So if you’re feeling like an Imposter on any level, dig deeper.

It’s a red flag warning for you to discover more about your inner world. This brings an inner knowing of true security, value and belonging–one that is always on shaky ground when we seek this outside ourselves. For sure we all love feeling validated for our work, our ideas, our efforts. But when we try and use that as the foundation for our true worth, it’s bound to fail.

Let me ask you. Is it time for a change?

Do it feel like you’re standing on the outside of your own life, looking in?

I invite you to discover more about my Power with Purpose one-on-one coaching program

In it, you’ll get in touch with your own deep inner wisdom—your true Self that you came here to share with your colleagues, your team, your company, business, friends and family.

Releasing your need to prove your worth and value frees your spirit to live an inspired life. Does this happen overnight? Of course not. But gradually you realize you can leave the imposter syndrome behind as you create the life you really desire.

Click here to see the Power with Purpose information. I’ve got room for three clients at this time. Is one of them you?

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