‘Often enough I am afraid that I will suddenly fall through the basket’
Patricia van Liemt is a radio host, writer and mother of Maria (12) and Phaedra (9). Every Friday she writes accurate, honest, funny and above all recognizable columns about her life and motherhood.
I know myself, after 44 years, pretty well. Every now and then I look in the mirror and I think: yes, nice job chica. But often enough I am afraid that I will suddenly fall through the basket. That I’m being exposed as a fraud. Someone who does anything but describes it as ‘a career’. There is even a real term for this fear: the imposter syndrome, also known as the impostor complex. And I’m certainly not the only one who suffers from this.
Not so capable
I doubt whether it is a coincidence, but in my birth year 1978 the phenomenon was first described by clinical psychologists. They described it as a feeling that others may discover at any moment that you are not as smart, witty or capable as you may seem to them. But that you essentially are.
Also read – From career tiger to family father: ‘Some ask if I still find him attractive now’ >
Manifest
I’ve been looking for something that could help me out of this. And do you know what one of the pieces of advice was? ‘Fake it until you make it’. I kid you not. Well, manifestation is in visualization. I do believe in that. In other words: you have to imagine yourself on a unicorn, galloping through a shower of confetti, then it will happen. A kind of…
Making radio again
My unicorn is making radio. And I will do that again. With my first great radio love Wild FM. Together with the ultra fun and inspiring Rolien Magendans.
“Imposter syndrome or not, I think we women should be each other’s cheerleaders”
You know, imposter syndrome or not, I think we women should be each other’s cheerleaders. And preferably with pompoms and a cool yell, but it is also possible in the form of an app…
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