Last week I did a "soft launch" of my online course.
This brought on all sorts of "imposter syndrome" issues as you can imagine!
I was worried that it wouldn't look professional enough, that the platform it was on wasn't high tech enough, that I sounded stupid, etc, etc, etc - the list goes on!
Then I took myself to task. After all, I am a 56 year old woman, trying to cope in a digital age, which quite frankly I didn't sign up for in 1964! So what if it isn't high tech - nor am I! So what if my hair doesn't look great - I haven't been to the hairdresser for over a year! So what if I look a bit lined and careworn - I have lived life!
I don’t know about you, but I find myself thinking things like this all the time!
I can’t possibly tell someone I don’t work on Sundays - they might think I am not dedicated enough.
I can’t admit that it is just me working here - they might think I am not successful enough.
I can’t tell people I can’t work on a certain day as I have family commitments - they might think I am not professional enough.
And on it goes.
Enough - that word. Am I enough?
I think, as women, this tends to be the pattern of our life from the moment we start to work, have children or partners, if not before!
Not admitting we have children, as our colleagues will think we aren’t dedicated to our jobs.
Not telling people we are going to the doctors, as this is a sign of weakness.
Lying about out age, so we are more acceptable to people
Dressing how we think we ought to dress so that we fit in other people’s perspectives.
In this age of social media, we view everybody’s lives through “Insta” ready lenses. Everything seems perfect in all its rose tinted filter. But the truth is that even those filtered pictures of a perfect life have been through lots of messy bits before they got there. The messy bits have been edited and filtered out - which unfortunately we can’t do in real life!
Or is it unfortunate? I remember a line from a film (although I can’t remember the film🤪) - “life IS the messy bits”! And it is - those bits are what make us who we are. They make us the people that others can relate to.
We all have lives outside of our jobs/careers/businesses. We all need to hustle a bit to make a living. We all make mistakes. We all have hang-ups about ourselves. But this is what makes us US. It is what makes our businesses great, what we have to offer other people unique and genuine.
So, I am now going to record my next video and not mind about the fact that I lisp when I speak, the fact that my hair might not look pristine or that my bra might be showing a bit!
I might not be perfect, but who wants perfect anyway?
I am going to just be me and tell you about things I am passionate about. And then I am going to cook supper for my family and walk my dogs and put the washing on!
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