8. Why You Shouldn’t Have Imposter Syndrome
Alright, I get it… It’s easier said than done. So, what is impostor syndrome? Per Google, it’s essentially doubting yourself and feeling like a fraud. Perhaps you feel that you’re living somebody else’s life or that you are not worthy and do not deserve the life that you have or your future accomplishments. What’s interesting is that I do feel that this is incredibly common for Millennials and possibly Gen Z. I would have to marinate on why this would be the case; however, I don’t doubt that social media and how pervasive people’s lives are on the internet have something to do with it. You’re totally bombarded by others’ lives and comparing them to yours. It’s a bit of a recipe for disaster. But that’s just what’s on the surface level. How does this connect to spirituality?
As I give my clients readings, it’s a shame to say that often times the ones who come to me with the most self-doubt are some of the most brilliant. Now, brilliance is a relative term, but I often associate it with having a litany of past lives and gaining an incredible amount of earthly experience, relevant to our lives today. Although you can certainly be brilliant with limited experience, there’s this sense of magic and wonder with those who have lived extraordinary lives. They certainly bring something special to the table. I label them as “old souls”.
So why is this the case? When you are an old soul, oftentimes you incarnate for a completely different purpose. Perhaps it’s not necessarily to learn and grow similarly to others, but to help the collective in some way. Since old souls have gained such vast experiences, they often share key characteristics. They are highly skilled and valuable. They are a “natural” at many things, or what they put their mind to. They have loads of wisdom and can often come across as peaceful and calm. Sort of “all-knowing”.
So what is the dissonance? Why are so many “old souls” struggling to have confidence in themselves, particularly because they do embody so many strengths? I personally find it to be a combination of several things.
Because they are incredibly strong in multiple areas/aspects of their life (this could be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual), they are naturally a “threat” to others. This could manifest in several ways, but oftentimes people work out of a place of scarcity and a fallacy of finite abundance, and find that other people’s happiness and success mean that they either have less or none at all. So often times we are intimidated/upset and/or fearful of these types of people and may intentionally or even unintentionally seek to disempower them or control them. As a result, the person with impostor syndrome may feel that they are either unliked or unworthy of an award, accolade, or attention.
The next issue is societal conditioning. At this point in time, much of what we do requires some type of degree, certification, class, etc. Essentially, some form of documentation of expertise. Additionally, this expertise is taught and trained from a singular perspective. So, for example, if you were to become a doctor or a lawyer, there’s a standardization to this practice which is of one, unified and singular perspective. Of course, there’s room for independent and free thinking, but at the end of the day, it’s a singular perspective. Now let’s be real, this isn’t necessarily or inherently problematic, as even I personally believe that it’s quite important that the collective is on the same page, particularly with important matters. However, this is kind of problematic for other areas of life. As a society, we’re stifling ideology, creativity, and innovation. Even some of the most valued innovators of our recent time rejected the traditional education experience, or, quite frankly, the realms and bounds of society at large. They completely rejected anything and everything that did not align with their singular vision. And brilliantly brought consciousness onto their journey. Talk about manifestation power and being spiritually gifted. As a society, we’ve largely discouraged free thinking, individuality, pursuits, passions, etc., in exchange for a more modest ideology and a more complacent vision of a lifestyle. For the people who have more “control” and power in this lifetime, it’s a brilliant scheme that not only keeps people in line, but also a cog in the machine. If those who are not introduced to manifestation power and intention setting start to gain more power and “control”, it completely offsets this delicate balance, which took much time for those with this power to conceive. That was a bit of an unexpected rant, but I’m sure this topic will serve me in other places as well.
There’s a reason why people who have ultimate power are made to feel that they are less than, and it starts at the top. Once people start to wake up and realize that they are no different from any other human on this earth in the grand scheme of consciousness, they deserve exactly as much abundance, and then start demanding it, we’ll start to equal out/balance the scales, and the real fun will begin.
