The “Self Doubt”
IF YOU HAVEN’T SUBSCRIBED TO MY BLOG PAGE YET, CHECK IT OUT HERE
Imposter syndrome, also called perceived fradulence, involves feelings of self doubt and personal incompetence that persist despite your education, experience, and accomplishments
Way back in my second year of Medical Science, I encountered this when I first came across my pathology test results. I came Second. Well to say, those who know me were like it was bound to happen some day or the other and that it shouldn’t have been much of a great deal for him. I myself didn’t feel it initially that’s when the teachers started praising me, and quoted that I would be one of the people who would certainly crack in one of the central institutes of AIIMS repute.
Back there, my friends started saying that there are many people like you out there waiting in the ring ,in the queue to come in the top order, and that competition like this wouldn’t suffice there. Now normally what this phenomenon is could be called as “peer criticism” but that hit me differently, I started questioning my own abilities as a student and asked this question:
“Am I worthy Enough?”
What it Feels Like?
Imposter feelings represent a conflict between your own self-perception and the way others perceive you.
Even as others praise your talents, you write off your successes to timing and good luck. You don’t believe you earned them on your own merits, and you fear others will eventually realize the same thing, and when they say that it gets reinforced further.
Consequently, you pressure yourself to work harder in order to:
keep others from recognizing your shortcomings or failures
remain satisfied which never does come
prevent making minor mistakes which you make look like real hard problems
The work you put in can keep the cycle going. Your further accomplishments don’t reassure you — you consider them nothing more than the product of your efforts to maintain the “illusion” of your success
Any recognition you earn? You call it sympathy or pity. And despite linking your accomplishments to chance, you take on all the blame for any mistakes you make
Ultimately leading to Burnout, Anxiety and Depression.
Psychologists first described the syndrome in 1978. According to a 2020 review, 9%–82% Trusted Source of people experience impostor syndrome. The numbers may vary depending on who participates in a study.
WHAT’S YOUR TYPE?
Leading imposter syndrome researcher Dr. Valerie Young describes five main types of imposters in her 2011 book “The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It.”
I got the opportunity to read this book way during the first lockdown period by the courtesy of my English Teacher, who is a gem of a teacher and her book collection is one of the finest!
Well This book states that there are essentially five types of people:
The perfectionist
You focus primarily on how you do things, often to the point where you demand perfection of yourself in every aspect of life.
Yet, since perfection isn’t always a realistic goal, you can’t meet these standards. Instead of acknowledging the hard work you’ve put in after completing a task, you might criticize yourself for small mistakes and feel ashamed of your “failure.”
To this point not able to do a single procedure correctly in the OPD wards is so stressful, and makes me reiterate my aim.
The natural genius
You’ve spent your life picking up new skills with little effort and believe you should understand new material and processes right away.
Your belief that competent people like yourself can handle anything with little difficulty leads you to feel like a fraud when you have a hard time.
If something doesn’t come easily to you, or you fail to succeed on your first try, you might feel ashamed and embarrassed.
My friends often tell me that i understand things quickly and that I require to read little, but there are several occasions on which not being able to answer questions leaves me annoyed on myself.
The rugged individualist (or soloist)
You believe you should be able to handle everything solo. If you can’t achieve success independently, you consider yourself unworthy. These are the “TOUCH ME NOT KIND OF GUY”.
The expert
Before you can consider your work a success, you want to learn everything there is to know on the topic.
How to deal with it?
This without saying is the most difficult part of it. The solutions mentioned in the book and how I personally gained control over this problem are:
1]Acknowledge your feelings
Talking to a trusted friend or mentor about your distress can help you get some outside context on the situation. Or rather talk to like minded factions whether in your college or any congregation. This goes without saying that even if you are a part of certain groups in college life, its good to be a minimal part of everyone’s group,
You get new ideology, you grow and understand
2]Challenge your doubts
When imposter feelings surface, ask yourself whether any actual facts support these beliefs. Then, look for pieces of evidence to counter them.
So say you are preparing for some test of some kind, and despite all the preparations you feel something lacking always, ask yourself if you are receiving constant praise you should be the right man for the job
3]Avoid comparing yourself to others
Everyone has unique abilities. You are where you are because someone recognized your talents and your potential.
You may not excel in every task you attempt, but you don’t have to, either. Almost no one can “do it all.” Even when it seems like someone has everything under control, you may not know the full story.
It’s OK to need a little time to learn something new, even if someone else seems to grasp that skill immediately.
Instead of allowing others’ success to highlight your flaws, consider exploring ways to develop the abilities that interest you.
I can’t properly suture, I took days to hold the scalpel correctly in the plane of dissection and even till date i question my ability, but things would fall in place automatically, just need to have the patience.
CONCLUSION
ITS ALRIGHT TO BE IMPERFECT OR DO MISTAKES AT TIMES
MISTAKES MAKE US HUMBLE,FAILURE MAKES US STRUGGLE EVEN HARDER. A WISE MAN MAKES PLANS TO COME OUT OF IT
WITH EVERY PROBLEM IS BORN A SOLUTION TO IT
STRUGGLE UNLESS SUCCESS BECOMES A MERE HABIT
Good article
This is absolutely a must read article ✨👍