Is Imposter Syndrome so Bad?

Lately I've been thinking about how Imposter Syndrome has gotten such a terrible reputation? So many people ask me this on the daily, “Jacki, how do I overcome imposter syndrome? How do I not imposter someone else on the internet or in real life? How do I be myself in business and in life?”

Let me follow up these questions with a set of questions:

Have you ever changed?

Have you ever evolved from one season to the next or perhaps you don't sound or feel or do the things you did the season prior?

Have you ever looked back 5 years at who you were and perhaps laughed?

D, all of the above for me.

I believe Imposter Syndrome actually is a turning around of the mirror … on ourselves. Can you see when you have changed - which by the way change is our only constant - that you get uncomfortable sometimes, it's messy most of the time and you have to and can ask for grace grace grace as we learn this new version.

I know when I change, I often fall back into old patterns and old beliefs because it's comfortable back there - I know myself there. And yet my body says, “this isn't who you are anymore” and the Imposter syndrome is actually a form of impostering my old self and shying away from the person I'm becoming, a person who has changed. 

I am going to pause to let you read that again.

I know we live in a very social World online and it can be very easy to compare ourselves to her/him/them. Believe me, I know. And yet, what if the comparison is actually information, inspiration, an opportunity or a glimpse of who you are becoming? And then you're not always imposter-ing someone else, you could actually be impostering an old version of yourself.