Dealing with Imposter Syndrome

Some Thoughts on Imposter Syndrome
A Personal Struggle

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“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
​ -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I write all the time, typically to a rigid schedule with personal deadlines to which I impose upon myself as a tyrant proposes some oppressive edict. To be honest, writing is such a crucial and essential part of my daily life that I can’t imagine life without it. I often jokingly say that writing (and art proper) is a “most beautiful burden.” This is irony, of course, because if I didn’t adhere to the making up and writing down of the stories and characters that plague my mind, I would be a rather miserable fellow.

But, despite my ascetic and monk-like attitude toward writing—despite the fact that I have written a novel, several short stories, and even won awards, I still experience something that seems to pervade the mind of every author.

Impostor syndrome.

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Photo by William F. Burk

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​Everyone, no matter how successful or obscure, experiences it. It’s impossible not to. You write and write, only to feel that it’s not good enough and that you aren’t a “real writer.”

Writing is in every form a drug, a chasing of a dragon to a point that does not exist. Writing is a freedom bound in chains; it is a passionate romance with a fickle muse who only speaks to you when she feels inclined.

But we have all experienced this discouragement. Anyone who writes can definitely tell you that the occupation is not as romantic as it seems to those non-writers who find the idea of making things up and writing them down foreign and exotic.

But I have realized that, despite the discouragement, it’s a waste of time to feel this way. There’s no benefit in doubting yourself. I’ve written a novel! That alone makes me a writer—no matter what my brain tells me. And even if you haven’t written a novel, you still write, and that’s good enough. The writer writes. That is all there is to it.

We’ll get there soon, slow and steady wins the race.

Impostor Syndrome, I find, comes when I look at others and what they’re doing. I think “they write more than me” or “they get more book sales...”

What a waste of time!

What good does that do for you? Even if those things are true, they have nothing to do with you. All you can do is move forward. Move forward and cut your path.

To end, this reminds me of a quick story. When I was in high school, I was told relatively late in the year that I needed a quote to put under my picture for the yearly book of school staff and students.

As I said, it was late in the year, and I eventually and happily submitted a quote.

But the quote was too late, and I was given a random one instead of my choice. It was:

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

So do just that. Go forth as the only thing you can be. Go forward as yourself.

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Thank you for reading and feel free to comment!
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