Imposter Syndrome and Writing

I began counting: one, two, three… and then I stopped.

There were just too many to count.

What I am referring to are unpublished posts.

Not because they turned out to be bad in my mind, but because I just couldn’t hit publish. Why?

It is this simple question that always stopped me: “Am I qualified enough to talk about this? Who am I to talk about this?”

Now, this is a feeling that is mostly called Imposter Syndrome.

But I realized something strange.

Whenever people talk about being an imposter, they do so from a place of victimhood.

As if it is something attacking them.

But that’s usually not the case. Of course, I can only speak for myself:

For me, this whole concept of being an imposter was not a case of victimhood.

It was the trick of the creative ego.

The creative ego wanting to be an “expert”.

But as they say, “The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.”

It was my inability or unwillingness to accept this truth that was the root cause of the problem.

And this is one of the negative consequences of being good at school.

There is a fixed syllabus, a fixed set of questions with fixed answers.

We should know everything before the exam, or else we are doomed.

But as I took up projects in the practical world, I realized that it wasn’t about knowing everything from the word “go,” or knowing the right answers.

In fact, it was about iterating rapidly.

Creative work, especially, is more about discovering than knowing.

So, if you are a creator scared to share your work, know this:

We are all on a journey of learning.

And there will always be more to learn, more to know.

The creative act is the actual learning.

Just do it.