Writer: Melanie Cabrera

Your whole life is built on a lie; everything you have comes from luck. You haven’t worked hard at all. These negative thoughts are found in many people and are quite common at Taft: “You’re not enough, that you’ll never be good enough, no matter how hard you try.” Even if there is significant evidence to prove it, in a school known for its academic rigor and its pride in athletics, thoughts like this cross our minds daily. It is built by categorizing yourself into a box of having to be the best. This can be known as imposter syndrome, and it follows a pattern of 3 C’s: context, characteristics, and coping.

Context:

Imposter syndrome is very real and can be found in everyone buried deep down. Typically identified in high-achieving individuals placed in high-stress environments. It’s most common in perfectionists, individuals with low self-esteem, marginalized minorities, etc. Stemming from a trigger, whether that be personality or environment. Oftentimes, the large amounts of pressure come from the individual experiencing these thoughts, becoming their own worst enemy. 

Characteristics:

With feelings of dishonesty, failure, exhaustion, and more. Imposter syndrome is a wide spectrum of feelings. Many people feel fraudulent, as if they are deceiving people into believing they are skilled. Believing that due to this, they have no real achievements, and it all stemmed from something other than their own hard work. Living an unattainable lifestyle, many work excessively in order to reach unsustainable goals, leading to a fear of failure and, oftentimes, branching out into a fear of success, believing that success will only bring unbearable expectations upon them. 

Cope:

A path to recovery is hard, and many feel undeserving of help, but it is worth it. To the many Taft students who feel like this, before you can branch out and ask for help, you have to change your mindset and become conscious of your own negative thoughts and clarify why these thoughts began. You have to choose between believing the one negative voice in your head or listening to the many people around you who care about you. Create new habits and new motivations; you don’t have to be the best, you just have to be you. If you or anyone else here at Taft is struggling, please reach out to a trusted adult or a school counselor, as thoughts like these can become dangerous. 

Counselor email: counseling@taftschool.org