By Leah Donnella — 2017
"Racial impostor syndrome" is definitely a thing for many people. We hear from biracial and multi-ethnic listeners who connect with feeling "fake" or inauthentic in some part of their racial or ethnic heritage.
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Impostor syndrome is not a unique feeling, but some researchers believe it hits minority groups harder.
For many of us, men with broad shoulders, narrow hips, taut muscles, and white skin — sun-kissed or pale under hot lights — became an ideal we couldn’t escape. We coveted images of these bodies like treasure, and they educated us in the rules of attraction.
For the longest time, Christy Pichichero says she thought she was plagued with imposter syndrome, you know, that feeling that you don’t belong, that you don’t quite deserve your success. But this past year, she took a step back and coined a whole new phrase for what she’s been experiencing.
Today in my interactions with college students and young scientists in training, I’m often struck by the limits that they are placing on their own potential by comparing their achievements to those of others.
Imposter syndrome, alongside alcoholism and chronic insomnia, is one of the experiences key to the morbid trinity of student life; the quirks forming the foundation of every post on every university confessions page.
We’ve all heard the fake it till you make it a phenomenon. Like every student. A person with imposter syndrome can have all the training in the world with the finest degrees, and still not believe they have the right for people to recognize their accomplishments.
I realize now that no matter how much I “accomplish” or the goals I achieve, I still second-guess myself; I struggle to feel fulfilled.
“Do you ever have feelings of self-doubt, that you’re not good enough or that you don’t belong?” we asked students in our Student Opinion question inspired by Smarter Living’s guide on “How to Overcome ‘Impostor Syndrome.’”
The time of COVID-19 and racial justice protests has been stressful, but it has also spurred BIPOC clinicians to find new ways of helping their communities and clients cope, heal, and thrive.
What better way to use Black History Month than as practice for creating a world that demands displays of Black joy and pleasure year-round?