To the young ones on my list, I write today to talk about the monster called “Imposter Syndrome”.

Some few years ago, I had participated in a writing competition organised at a state level by a firm. They requested we write our story in 100 words and to kill boredom and to flex my pen and storytelling skills, I decided to give it a shot even though I didn’t have a lot to write about.

Men and brethren, I wrote, submitted the article and life moved on. Exactly eight months later, I got a mail from the firm congratulating me for winning the competition and requested I show up to receive the cash prize. It was like a dream and I doubted it. I doubted because I felt the story was not worthy to receive the win from over a thousand submissions, I felt my work was just a normal story and it would be unchristian to swindle their money for a creative story I made up. I felt the story was not good enough!

Now to the interesting part, after receiving the cash award, I called the organisers and told them I can’t receive the money because it was not meant for me, maybe they should look through the submissions and see the best who I felt wasn’t me. (Ahhh 😂😂, someone must be calling me a f**l after reading that part😂😂). The organiser took his time to let me know the number of international journalists and writers that went through the works and why I really deserved the win with my story.

This real story is a clear example of Imposter Syndrome!! That feeling of inadequacy, that feeling of “do I really deserve the win?”, that fear of rejection, that fear of falling below par, that feeling of “I got it because I was just lucky”, the feeling of perfection and cringing when it didn’t meet your imaginary standard, that believe that people feel you are more intelligent than you really are, that feeling of “I am not qualified for that role “.

I write to encourage you to fight imposter today! Fight the negative thoughts, you deserve that win and a No doesn’t mean you are unworthy! For every negative thought, match it with a positive word of affirmation! Practice until you are standing before kings and noble men. Believe in your worth and give it a shot because you deserve your wins!!

As we all decided, No gree for anyone including imposter syndrome!!! Celebrate yourself and your wins because you are more!!!

Yours in Love
AI

#ai #momademia #iwd2024 #investinwomen.