Be it in your social life or your academics, we are often inclined to thinking that we are not good enough or that whatever we do is simply not suffice. Academically, a plethora of students experience imposter syndrome throughout their lives, especially during high school. Imposter syndrome refers to a person being doubtful of their abilities and their competence. What they think of themselves can be contrary to what others perceive them to be, in which they continue to degrade themselves. It can affect any student, whether they are an honor student or not. Socially, a person may feel as if there is a certain wall between them and the people dear to them that acts as an obstruction to their relationship. That person is often fearful of being rejected by their friends or even partner. Nonetheless, the following listicle entails some prominent ways of dealing with “not being enough” –
- Avoid comparing yourself to others.
Telling someone to completely stop comparing themselves to others is very idealistic. At some point, you will compare yourself to someone else. However, you should try your best to avoid comparing yourself to others as much as possible. Why? First, it can take a huge toll on your mental health, meaning that it can mentally drain you. Also, every single person has their own attributes and qualities that are unique to them, so it is really futile as you will be juxtaposing two different beings that have no correlation, not to mention that almost everyone compares themselves to other people, even the people who are supposedly living a utopian life.
- Accept the fact that these thoughts are normal.
Our minds tend to deceive us by embedding conflicting and negative thoughts which would make you predominantly think of negative things and not the positives. Our minds are automated, and we do not have dominion or power over them. We cannot control them. Additionally, there is a psychological concept known as the negativity bias. It claims that negative thoughts prevail over the positive ones, which means that we are unintentionally bound to dwell on our negative experiences more than the positive ones, even if the positive ones outweigh the negative ones. All in all, you should not blame yourself for such thoughts as they are very natural and an integral aspect of growth.
- Reminisce past successes.
As mentioned in the last step, you should not repudiate the negative thoughts. However, there is another method you can utilize to not allow these pernicious thoughts to take advantage of your thinking process. Whenever these unpleasant thoughts seem to overwhelm you, try to think of a time when you truly triumphed or succeeded in anything, whether it is something major or minor. Recalling such achievements would hinder the negative thoughts’ ability to take over and would push them away. It may be easier said than done, but it can be such a huge helping hand for many people.
- Talk to a close friend.
Simply talking to a friend that you confide in can directly bolster your confidence and eradicate any negative thoughts you would have. That friend can remind you of how outstanding you are without sugarcoating anything they say. Occasionally, we all need a reminder about our magnificence from a certain person. This person would aid you in retrieving your vision of how diligent and competent you are since you have been blinded by the deleterious negative thoughts that are lingering in your mind. It has been proven that hearing good things about you from another trustworthy person can heavily augment your wellbeing.