International Imposter Syndrome Awareness Day may seem like a made-up thing about a made-up condition, but both are decidedly real.
Similar to low self-esteem, which also isn’t recognized by the psychiatric bodies that oversee such things, Imposter Syndrome often works in concert with anxiety and/or depression. It was first put forth in the late 1970s to describe crises of confidence that strike outwardly successful businesswomen, but in the years since it’s been found to be a gender-neutral phenomena and as applicable outside the workplace as it is in. The awareness campaign about it, meanwhile, was created in 2021 by executive coach Kim-Adele Platts, author, entrepreneur and former IBM futurist Nathaniel Schooler, and cyber security awareness and culture specialist Lisa Ventura; it falls on April 13th.
If you’ve ever felt in over your head despite evidence to the contrary, fretted you’re unworthy despite receiving praise for your accomplishments, skills and talents, or experienced instances of self-doubt, then you may well have brushed up against the syndrome. Now imagine feeling that each and every day—and not just at or about work, but in all aspects of life. Are you really worthy of recognition? Of love? What if your partner—potential or existing—sees past your mask? Imposter Syndrome is a self-haunting, in a way, with insecurity in the role of the ghost.
Written with and produced by Corey Pavlosky, singer-songwriter burwell’s “Unimpressive” tackles the nagging fears that often spur people to pull away from others: “and before you find me out/oh, you’ll get the run around/if i think you’ll find me/i’ll keep runnin’/i’ll keep running away.” We succumb to self-doubt out of a fear of being found to be who and what we are—human. Everyone has flaws. Everyone has faults. And, aside from the narcissists and psychopaths who walk among us, everyone second guesses themselves from time to time.
In any event, “Unimpressive” is a catchy tune that works on multiple levels, with the inner doubt (‘you’re unimpressive”) swapped out for a question posed to the other party: “if what i’ve done is good enough/but all my failures call my bluff/would you stay?”
The Old Grey Cat 