“Do I really deserve this — winning? Someone will find out it was just luck. I don’t deserve this.”
This train of thought — a dish of self-doubt and negative mental dialogue with a garnish of fear of exposure as fraudulent — characterizes imposter syndrome.
As Cleveland Clinic puts it, imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon where someone persistently feels like a fraud, disbelieving in the legitimacy of their own success.
“Did luck get me this far? Maybe I’m not as good as I think.”
Imposter syndrome isn’t a definite medical diagnosis; however, one study done in 2020 of over 14,000 participants revealed imposter syndrome as a common phenomenon occurring in up to 82% of people — most particularly women, women of color, racial/ethnic minorities, and LGBTQ+ individuals as Stanford University reports.
All of this to say, these thoughts are self-deprecating, manifesting into 5 roles that bleed doubt and shame: perfectionist, expert, natural genius, soloist and superhuman — Cleveland Clinic has further details.
The main issue at hand is the heavy comparison between one teenager and a medium.
The main provokers are school and social media.
School provides a ranking system that generates a competitive environment instead of one that promotes growth. A few prevalent examples are ACT and SAT testing and the scale of ability entailing letters. These mediums diminish a teen’s character and open the door for other harmful effects to mental and physical health.
On the other hand, social media leads teens to develop feelings of inferiority when they compare their struggles to an exterior appearance of another individual they often don’t know personally. These mediums are traps that taint a teen’s perspective of themself, altering their thinking.
The way around this obstacle is to truly ground oneself; at the end of the day, comparison is the killer of joy. Teenagers should understand that not all thoughts are reality and consider their work and accomplishments with confidence and without contrast as they are given a weighty responsibility in carrying their own mind.
