Got Imposter Syndrome?
Great! We can be friends.
Hey, Happy Thursday.
I’m starting today with a little time travel, back to the spring of 1999.
At the time, I was wrapping up student teaching and just starting to interview.
My goal was to teach middle or high school Spanish.👩🏻🏫
I was as qualified as the next person, but I felt I was behind the 🎱 ball because I was entering the teaching profession after working in TV for five years.
Basically, me sentí como un impostor.
I felt like an imposter.
I thought my Spanish wasn’t up to par.🗣️
I thought I was too old to start something new.👵🏻
I thought my career experience would hurt versus help.📹
Yet, I had this deep love for the Spanish culture 🇪🇸 and language and a desire to inspire kids to love it, too. This passion❤️fueled me and quieted the doubts in my mind.
A little.
To boost my confidence, I invested in a great interview outfit - a red blazer and a short little skirt that was very Ally McBeal.
However, since I was interviewing for a school and not a Boston law firm, I toned the outfit down with nylons and showed up at my first interview dressed like Ally, with her theme song playing in my head for inspo.
The principal’s secretary greeted me and immediately sent me to the principal’s office😳to prepare a lesson to give to the committee.
She left me alone in his office, seated at an old wooden desk, and told me I had 30 minutes to create a lesson for the team.
There was no time to feel like an imposter; I had to buckle down and get to work. I scribbled ferociously on the notepad she’d given me. Since it was the 90s, nothing was digital, so I took lesson ideas from the large portfolio binder I’d brought.
25 minutes later, I was done. I set my pen down to breathe.
I stood up to stretch and immediately felt something was off.
I felt cold air on my leg, which seemed odd as I’d been sweating like a pig since I sat down.
I 👀 at my leg and gasped in horror. 🧟♀️
My entire nylon was shredded, and my flesh was exposed.
I looked like FloJo.
Somewhere in the midst of my lesson prep, I must have rubbed against a nail on the 400-year-old desk. My nylon didn’t have a run; it was destroyed.
And, of course, the secretary came in to get me at precisely that moment. I had no time to fix the situation or even process what had happened.
So, I walked into the interview and addressed the elephant on the table, making some joke about “I bet you never thought Flo Jo would be interviewing for the job…” We all laughed. I felt less nervous, got through my lesson and interview, and actually enjoyed the experience - despite the fact I was showing some serious skin.
But as luck would have it, this unintentional scholastic striptease turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons of my life, and also happens to be What I’d Rather Be Talking About this week:
We can sit around and list all the reasons we aren’t qualified to do X, Y, or Z.
But, the truth is, if we’re moved to do something, and do the work, we’re qualified.
Will we be perfect?
No.
Is anyone perfect?
Of course not.
Will we be not scared when we’re pursuing that dream?
Hell, no. We’ll probably be terrified.
But if we don’t pursue new ventures and give them a try, we’ll never give ourselves the chance to succeed or fail in anything.
We’ll stay exactly where we are now, never knowing what could’ve been.
And that makes for boring TV, and an incredibly boring life.
My advice to you?
Do the thing you know you were made to do, even if you risk baring your soul (and possibly) leg to the masses.
Even if Especially if it makes you feel like an imposter.
Let the fear propel you forward as you join the rest of us.
You’re in good company.
With that in mind, I’ve got some goodies for you below to help you feel less like an imposter and more like the bad-ass you are.
✌️out
Things I’m loving:
podcasts🎧
Mix the woo with the work to get what you want and overcome imposter syndrome on this episode of the Jenna Kutcher Show.
Even the doctors at Stanford Medicine want us to know it’s okay to feel like an imposter. Give Imposter Syndrome: You’re Not Alone - Standford Medicine a listen.
Viola Davis shares that all artists have imposter syndrome, and guess what? So does Michelle Obama.
plant-based, healthy, and delicious🫑
🥒A new twist on cucumber - add a bit of lemon for a great snack or lunch. 🍋
🍓🥑For breakfast or any time of the day… how about a smoothie bowl: Matcha, strawberries and cream, or this keto chocolate peanut butter dream.
🥦Plant-based, easy to make and prep, and affordable vegan meals. Here are three vegan meals that take less than 30 minutes to prepare.
🫒 my obsession with Spain: I’ve never liked olives until I went to a Spanish restaurant in Chicago called Jaleo. It’s owned by the famous Spanish chef Jose Andres and is known for its creative take on Spanish cuisine, like… liquid olives. Yes, liquid olives. You swallow the olive whole - it’s an olive made out of an olive, and it’s AMAZING. One more thing about José Andrés - he is one of the most generous people on the planet. See what he’s doing to help solve the hunger problem around the world, and check out his new cookbook, Zaytinya.
RANDOM QUESTION:
Do you have an air fryer?
If so, please leave a note in the comments with brand recommendations!
health, beauty, safety & peace of mind
🩺 In last week’s Saturday Sidebar, I talked about a medical issue(👽🦟bite), and a late-night call to Teledoc, where the NP told me to take Benedryl and Tylenol. Luckily, I had these drugs on hand, but the experience made me realize the importance of a good home first-aid kit- both at home and when you travel.
💆🏻♀️Did you hear?🧴Castor oil is officially the bomb.com. Apparently, castor oil can do a boatload of things for you: it’s been called Nature’s Botox, is a digestive miracle worker🚞, and is a workhorse for your hair.
🥋Random but important safety tips: what to do if someone grabs you by the hair, how to make your home safer, and ten hotel security tips everyone should know.
💄It’s easier to beat imposter syndrome if you feel good about yourself. Want to take ten years off? See these makeup tricks. 💋
🧣How to always look chic and pulled together, find out your own personal style with a style quiz, and if you’re unsure where to start, here are 24 YouTube Fashion Stylists.
👨🏻🦱Guys, don’t worry, I see you, too. Here are the 20 Best Men’s Fashion Youtubers, and to keep things simple, check out this Men’s Guide to Redo Your Wardrobe.👔
on a serious note
Wrapping things up by answering the question you might have wondered after reading about my interview above.
Did I get the job?
No, I didn’t.
But I found out years later (from a teacher friend who worked at the school) that the principal remembered me and still laughed about the interview.
To me, this means even more than getting the job - because I showed up 100% who I was - human.
Job or no job, I learned it’s so much easier to just roll with the punches and realize life isn’t perfect.
And neither am I.
Takes a lot of pressure off.
Abbey
You Rock, Abbey!!😃