What is this ‘imposter syndrome’?
If you’ve ever been into a really fancy hotel, an airport lounge, or a posh restaurant and felt a bit like an outsider, that’s the kind of feeling we’re talking about. In awe of the loveliness, but feeling a bit out of place, and like you don’t deserve to be there.
Parents can feel like imposters when their kids are born, and remember that feeling of buying a sofa or a fancy home appliance - it often feels like you’re performing as someone who’s ‘adult-ing’. The feeling of being a fraud plagues the creative industries.
Imposter syndrome is the feeling that you’re not good enough, don’t deserve what you’ve earned or achieved, and that it’s all been a bit of luck until now.
Defined properly by the Cambridge dictionary as: “The feeling that your achievements are not real or that you do not deserve praise or success: Students from working-class backgrounds often suffer from impostor syndrome, a deep-seated sense that the world of high culture is not for them.”
A sad reality is that for many people working in, or aspiring to work in the photojournalism/media industry, there’s often a niggling feeling that success isn’t just out of reach, but out of themselves.
Why do women and minorities suffer more from it?
I’m not a psychiatrist or psychologist, so from the rumblings of my unqualified brain, and from talking to colleagues, I think the roots are in self confidence, self doubt, and self awareness. These aren’t attributes that upperclass, straight, white men ooze from my experience - think Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, and the like. The extreme version of the opposite is also quite something, the people that believe in themselves a little bit too much - the con-artist type.
It’s clear that the phenomenon is more common amongst Brits than say Americans, and according to the studies and articles covered here and here, also has more female suffers than male. Ethnic and sexual minorities are also more likely to feel like imposters - but are we really surprised? This is essentially a story of our changing societies, and battling the upperclass white male elite, who often believe they know best.
Even the Cambridge dictionary brings up social class in its definition - something unfortunately relevant to most Brits. (Sorry UK - don’t want to Brit-bash, but it’s clearly the case.)
State school educated kids in the UK don’t grow up feeling that the world is theirs, that anything is possible. We’re taught to know our place in the world. State school kids don’t often have connections in higher echelons of industry to nudge their careers along, or the financial backing to calmly take an unpaid internship, or wander into a financially precarious career, like photojournalism (alongside all other media careers).
Is it always a bad thing?
No. Self doubt is/can be useful - it can prevent you being an obnoxious or arrogant arsehole, and can be used as a motivator. Imposter syndrome pushes us to do a better job on each assignment, to learn more, to be more competitive, all vital in the highly competitive media landscape of today.
The goal - not to be intimidated by others, be proud of what you’ve done and what you’ve achieved. Easier said than done, of course.
Being a freelancer - a reality for the vast majority of photojournalists these days. It’s tough going, you’re the boss and your own worst enemy. But since you’re the boss - acknowledge any success as fruits of your own grafting.
Don’t apologise for doing self promo on social media - I still struggle with this, but then realised that nobody’s going to blow my trumpet, so I’ll toot it myself.
Your food for thought, served. Leaving it here.
Hope it helps, but what do I know, I don’t know anything about anything. Who the hell am I to even have a substack at all? :)
Socrates said, “the only thing I know is that I know nothing”.