#83: Imposter syndrome, constantly
Featuring a never-before-seen excerpt from my book
Today is my book’s half birthday!
To celebrate this milestone, I’m sharing an excerpt from a chapter that didn’t end up making it into the final book. It’s about my first job and imposter syndrome. Buckle up.
Oh, and for those who haven’t read the book yet, it tells the story of my lifelong relationship with anxiety. A variety of coping mechanisms appear along the way in the hopes of helping me manage. Here’s a quick introduction to the coping mechanism guest starring in this chapter:
I hope you enjoy!
I’m still not sure how I landed my first full time job. After all, I met the desired qualifications for it in the same way a t-shirt could be “one size fits all,” stretching the truth like fabric across the online application.
I guess that’s why I shouldn’t have been surprised at who showed up to give a pep talk the morning of my first day.
When we walked through the door right at 9 AM, I couldn’t help but notice that the office was clearly designed with a millennial aesthetic in mind: beers lining the bottom shelf of the fridge, accent walls painted to match the company logo, a cardboard cutout of a popular internet meme leaned against exposed brick.
The idea that I wasn’t the only one fumbling my way through life felt revolutionary.
We’re all stumbling forward into the unknown, arms outstretched in the darkness.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting my book, this newsletter, and me. It grounds me so much (especially when imposter syndrome pays me a visit). All my love!
Sooo good. My imposter syndrome loves to tell me people are being nice when they say they like my work.
That ending WAAS surprisingly comforting. We're all just trying to do our best in the world, and really, that's all you can do.