Impostor Syndrome and Your Blog

Blaugust Prep Week

Guess what time it is everybody! It’s the end of the week before Blaugust Reborn starts on Wednesday, August 1st! Before I delve into my mentor pre-Blaugust post, I wanted to toss up a quick reminder that I’m working on something I’m coining as the, “Blaugust Reborn Mini Cast”. It’s essentially a quick hit of those that want to participate into, well, how they got started, and why they’re participating. A quick, “get to know you”, if you will.

You can view my original thoughts on it at this post, but I figured after talking to a few folks, I’d do a quick update on it, and just repost it here for ease-of-use, since we’re now edging on 70 (maybe over?!) bloggers, by now!

The Concept

• Create a 5-20 minute audio clip answering a smattering of the below questions
• Load the audio clip into a file-sharing location (Dropbox, Drive, etc.)
• DM me in Discord (from the Blaugust discord) with the link to your audio file

The Questions

All Participants

Please include in your audio file:

• The pseudonym you go by
• Your blog title
• Why did you decide to get into blogging? What’s your “origin story”? (It can be as simple as, “a friend was doing it”, or “it sounded fun!”)
• How long you’ve been blogging
• Whether you’re a mentor-participant or blaugustan-participant

Mentors

Please include in your audio file:

• Why did you sign up as a mentor for Blaugust?
• What do you hope to get out of Blaugust?
• What is one (1) piece of advice you’d give to others for blogging? (It could be for completely new bloggers, folks returning to blogging, or veteran bloggers.)

Blaugustans

Please include in your audio file:

• What do you hope to get out of Blaugust?
• What are you looking forward to the most?
• What are you looking forward to the least?

Now, onto my actual mentor topic!

Impostor Phenomenon (/Syndrome)

In 1978, researchers Clance and Imes coined the term impostor phenomenon as, “the psychological experience of believing that one’s accomplishments came about not through genuine ability, but as a result of having been lucky, having worked harder than others, or having manipulated other people’s impressions”, stating in this study that the participants, “chronically feared not being able to maintain their success”.

“But, Chestnut, how does this relate to blogging?”

I’ve seen this mentality pop up time and again with other bloggers in my eight and a half years of blogging, but I’ve also seen these feelings shared by those that are participating in Blaugust Reborn. Hell, I’ve experienced them myself many a time.

So I wanted to talk briefly about it, because it’s not a topic I’ve seen other people cover, and psychology is something I am fond of researching and discussing (I mean, that is part of why I want to get a PhD in Counseling…).

Lots of folks out there feel these feelings. It’s okay. It’s natural. Sometimes, it’s tied to other mental illnesses (if you suffer from anxiety or depression, for example, the brain weasels are quite common, and are similar to the kinds of thoughts those with impostor syndrome are prone to think, though it shorter bursts).

You know what, though? You’re not a failure. You’re not going to be terrible. You do deserve to be a part of this endeavor, and you are talented enough to be a blogger/writer/content creator.

The Muse has some tips for combatting imposter phenomenon, but I wanted to focus on one in particular—writing it down.

The Muse states to write out your personal story. To let yourself shine on paper. And then accept that it’s true.

Because, really, it is. The fact that you decided to blog (or stream, or just be a content creator in any sense), whether it was yesterday, or ten years ago, is a huge accomplishment. It may seem like it’s something that everybody does, but I think that’s because we’re in the thick of it.

So remember as Blaugust continues, regardless of what you accomplish compared to your own goals (or what you think they should be), you are successful, you are deserving of being a part of this community, and you’re not the only one who feels this way.

Y’all got this. And y’all’re going to kick ass.