Imposter Syndrome: An Update
Two months ago, I blogged in this space about my struggles with imposter syndrome – the sense that you’re faking it and everyone else is more capable than you. Two weeks ago, I attended a conference that was kind of eye-opening, and kind of healing. It wasn’t a writing conference. It was a gathering for organizers of English and American folk dance, my other current passion. I’ve been doing contra dance for about five years now, but hadn’t been involved in organizing until last fall, when a volunteer friend talked me into taking the tiniest step: helping out with the Facebook page. Then this conference came up, a five-hour drive away, and he talked me into going to that too. I took a lot of convincing – not because of the distance, but because of imposter syndrome. I’m not really an organizer, I said. I don’t know the issues, let alone the solutions. I don’t know what our local community has done in the past; I’m not even sure I know much about what we’re doing now. My friend finally convinced me that I didn’t have to know everything to deserve to be at the table. So I went.