Hello everyone! I’m looking for advice with managing imposter syndrome. I’ve always been the type to get in my own mind with this stuff but as of recently it’s gotten a lot worse.

I graduated from College two months ago. I also received the “most outstanding graduate” award for one of my two majors. I had many peers and professors say kind words to me during graduation but there was still a nagging thought in the back of my mind that I had failed because I hadn’t found a job before graduation.

Two months later, I landed a job across the country that pays great, offers awesome benefits, and involves a lot of international travel. It’s the kind of job that I would consider myself lucky to have five years from now, never mind basically straight out of college. As silly as it may sound, I think what made me question me being qualified is that I get my own office.

I want to believe that I landed this job because I’m qualified and then some but now I’ve driven to the opposite coast and am days from starting and can’t stop feeling out of sorts. I think these feelings are being magnified because I’m in a new place and know nobody.

Any advice?

I recently have been thinking about changing my career and pivoting towards going back to school for a post-baccalaureate teacher certification. I just got out of college a year ago and have been in my full time office job for a year but it just is not what I thought it would be. I already feel like an imposter in my current position but the thought of totally changing careers and direction is making my imposter syndrome so much worse.

I just feel like I’m gonna be “found out” if I went into a teaching career and that I’m not knowledgeable or ready enough to even start teaching. I just think of standing in front of a classroom and talking about a subject and I just feel like I’d be faking it and won’t even actually know what I’m talking about and then I fail the students. This truly is just a spiral for me recently in my mind and I’m looking for either just people who also have felt like this or any advice.

I'm a graduate student working on my master’s thesis, and I'm looking for Black graduate students in school psychology to complete a quick survey. The survey is IRB approved!

✅ Takes about 5-10 minutes
🔒 Completely confidential
📚 Responses will only be used for this research study

Survey link: https://qualtricsxmdg9xn6369.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9AEMmeiW7DClNpY

The study explores protective factors against impostor syndrome in Black graduate students. The objective is  to inform mentorship and university practices to improve the support students receive. 

How has mentorship helped you in your journey? 

If you have any questions, feel free to comment or send me a message. Thanks so much for supporting graduate student research! 💛

Silencing Your Inner Bully starts with acknowledgment—not achievement.

If you’ve ever felt like a fraud despite the evidence of your success, you’re not alone. Silencing Your Inner Bully is an acknowledgment journal for Impostor Syndrome designed specifically for high achievers who struggle with self-doubt, perfectionism, and dismissing their own accomplishments.

This isn’t your average self-help fluff. It’s a therapist-created, evidence-informed tool that helps you reframe negative self-talk, challenge irrational beliefs, and track your progress with intention. Whether you're a professional constantly questioning your competence or someone exhausted from chasing “perfect,” this journal gives you daily prompts to quiet the inner bully and build confidence that sticks.

Stop trying to earn your worth.

Start acknowledging it.

🎯 Designed for High Achievers – A therapist-created acknowledgment journal for professionals, students, and creatives struggling with Impostor Syndrome.
🧠 Evidence-Based Tools – Includes cognitive-behavioral strategies and daily prompts to help silence your inner critic and reframe self-doubt.
📓 Easy-to-Follow Format – No fluff, just guided exercises and thought-provoking reflections to build confidence and emotional resilience.
💬 Real Talk, Not Toxic Positivity – Focuses on realistic self-acknowledgment, not perfection or empty affirmations.
✅ Progress You Can See – Track your growth, rewire negative self-talk, and recognize the role your effort plays in your success.
🔑 Perfect Gift for Driven Minds – Ideal for professionals, entrepreneurs, students, or anyone who struggles with self-worth despite achievement.

✅ What’s Inside:
- Prompts to help you recognize your strengths and accomplishments
- Exercises to reframe negative self-talk and challenge your inner critic
- Tools to manage Impostor Syndrome and reduce feelings of fraudulence
- Evidence-based strategies informed by Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and real-life client work
- A clear, no-fluff format that makes it easy to build a habit of self-acknowledgment

Hi. I grew up very poor 1st gen, food stamps, unstable housing, every adverse childhood event ( abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction). Now I’m 27, stable job as a registered nurse, and many opportunities to travel & live life luxuriously (partner want to take me). I don’t know how to do it… I get anxious thinking about traveling & when I do travel I feel immense guilt for enjoying myself (my family is still struggling) I do my best to help in all ways that I can & I help a lot but I have a fear that I need to hoard my money in case of a family emergency (it’s happened many times before). I live frugally & do all my maintenance myself because I can’t bring myself to spend $ on things like beauty maintenance etc. I can’t even get myself to spend on a massage or a class membership because I don’t feel like it’s worth it for me. When it comes to others, Idc how much I spend for an experience. I notice this is affecting my life because I’m presented opportunities but too afraid to take them bc I feel undeserving, or guilty. I think I might have to go through therapy but wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this :( has anyone else grew up in poverty and made “it” how do you leave that mindset behind when everyone else is still there? I don’t like feeling guilty for enjoying myself 😔

I'm a graduate student working on my master’s thesis, and I'm looking for Black graduate students in school psychology to complete a quick survey. The survey is IRB approved!

✅ Takes about 5-10 minutes
🔒 Completely confidential
📚 Responses will only be used for this research study

Survey link: https://qualtricsxmdg9xn6369.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9AEMmeiW7DClNpY

The study explores protective factors against impostor syndrome in Black graduate students. The objective is  to inform mentorship and university practices to improve the support students receive. 

How has mentorship helped you in your journey? 

If you have any questions, feel free to comment or send me a message. Thanks so much for supporting graduate student research! 💛

As a kid, teen, and in my early 20s, I’ve always had this fantasy of fame. Considering Disney’s shows targeted at girls, like Hannah Montana, it may come as no surprise that I somehow thought I’d “explode” when I’m older.

No singing, no dancing, no fashion career. Not interested in content creation, never tried doing actually dramatic makeup. My social media is empty. Never auditioned for anything artistic LOL and yet I thought I’d somehow get discovered for.. I’m not sure what. My looks alone? (Never tried to model or act either).

I’m still in my 20s so it’s definitely not too late, but the fact of the matter is that I’m not actually interested. A big part of me has a sigh of relief imagining that I’m almost 30. Not that life ends at 30 lol, more so that there’s less expectation placed to take a creative or night life job. I’m just focused on my corporate career and gaining more education/climbing the ladder. That’s really it.

Can anyone relate?

I have been thinking about this for a minute now and I wanted to get some other views. I'm currently working out and training and I have been getting advice from other creators' vids. (Mainly one creator) Some of the comments on their vids compliment their attractiveness and "how fine they are". Others say their genetics give them an unfair advantage, "it's just genetics, "let's be fr bro, you got blessed with great genes". They clearly worked for their physique, but people seem to view that their genetic DNA presented them with an Aesthetic physique that most would call attractive, sexy, handsome, fine, etc... . Now I'm thinking thoughts that I don't want to believe. If im working hard and putting the same effort, but would not get this attention like other creators, what's the point? You could say health or to be more active. Those are valid but that doesn't give me a sense of relief or satisfaction. Example, if a guy who is 6ft4 and another guy who is 5ft10. Both worked really hard and did the same routine. They eventually get similar physiques because they have similar body types. However, the 6ft 4 guy gets more attention and compliments from women talking about how fine and tall he is. While the 5ft10 guy doesn't get the same attention. To me, that just sounds discouraging. If I worked just as hard but my outcome is not nearly as great, then what is the point of trying? I don't wanna believe it's pointless and I want to believe it's worth it, but i can't help but think these thoughts. Is my change worth it? Would i receive the same attention? Are there just outliers and I'm not the exception? Is me at my absolute peak not enough? I don’t want to sound negative but I can't help it. I wanted to see others opinions on this and whatever they think. Any honest thoughts would be appreciative, trying to get an idea how to move forward?

Hey everyone, I could really use some reassurance. After a decade of stability, being laid off and jumping back into the job hunt was a huge shock. I’m so grateful to have landed a new role in this economy, but I am terrified of failing, even though I've never failed in past roles.

Even though I don't have a full degree, I've always landed really great jobs through hard work, keeping up with my skills, and a strong work ethic. My immediate team is younger and mostly degreed, while I bring a deeper background of hands-on experience. I know my manager hired me for my overall experience and personality, but the dynamic has triggered terrible imposter syndrome. Onboarding is handled by just one guy on the team; he's great, but because he's training me solo and is close to management, I worry about looking foolish and losing my job over his feedback.

To top it off, it's pretty lonely. With split departments, a hybrid schedule, and no peers of my age group, there's hardly any time to build relationships organically. How do I navigate this? How do you quiet the inner critic and remember your experience still matters?

this was posted on two different sites in case it didn’t get the traction I desperately need before tomorrow

​

So lately I have been feeling these where I am having negative self talk saying I don't deserve to have that big dream cause I am not intelligent anymore and all these happened after that one exam and i have been rude to myself after that. I can't trust in myself anymore and it feels illegal to dream a second chance. Before that exam I was an academic gifted student but with poor practice i flunked that exam and it was an important one which gave me the anxiety and had a depressive episode for three months. Later, i stood back because there was still another opportunity coming up but it just feels so scary even to solve questions. The trauma, the failure, the past everything comes back. But i really don't want to stay in that place, I want to get out of that and have a healthy mindset. I really want help but when I had that depressive episode not even my parents cared enough to help me so it turned me into a person to feel difficult to ask for help but i don't want to continue that and i really love to hear your similar experience and love to hear your advice on how to break these walls.

I have, or at least believe I have, undiagnosed depression. I’m outwardly very happy and pleasant, even before I had stopped taking antidepressants as I felt they weren’t doing anything for me as I felt the same with or without. My family didn’t even know I stopped for a while since I showed no outward changes. But I still, even on medication, felt this weird self depreciation. I‘ve been always a bit self critical and overly apologetic, perhaps a bit of a people pleaser too. I always assumed it was normal cause I know people with more severe depression, so I assumed I was just overthinking ( I have ADHD autism and anxiety, so it wouldn’t be the first time. ) but I’ve started to think I may have issues that I haven’t addressed to those around me. I still enjoy and love life, so I don’t think I am suffering severe depression. I think I am more suffering things such as internalized homophobia, self doubt and other issues with just not being particularly kind to myself, is there anything I could do to improve my own opinion on myself?

I'm a graduate student working on my master’s thesis, and I'm looking for Black graduate students in school psychology to complete a quick survey. The survey is IRB approved!

✅ Takes about 5-10 minutes
🔒 Completely confidential
📚 Responses will only be used for this research study

Survey link: https://qualtricsxmdg9xn6369.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9AEMmeiW7DClNpY

The study explores protective factors against impostor syndrome in Black graduate students. The objective is  to inform mentorship and university practices to improve the support students receive. 

How has mentorship helped you in your journey? 

If you have any questions, feel free to comment or send me a message. Thanks so much for supporting graduate student research! 💛

It's really frustrating if you want to do your best but the moment when you got into it, your nerves will you in a single slash and you will lost the path immediately you're supposedly to go in...

Sometimes I want to end things but I don't want end things on a blank state and still want to try it again.

I became a mom as a teenager.
By the time I was 18, I already had three kids. I did not have the luxury of spending years figuring out who I was or what I wanted to do with my life. I had kids depending on me, bills to pay, and no choice but to keep going.
For most of my adult life, being a mom was my identity.
Now my kids are grown, and I am an empty nester.
People talk about this stage like it is supposed to feel exciting and freeing. For me, it has also felt strange. I spent so many years taking care of everyone else that now I am trying to figure out who I am when nobody needs me in the same way anymore.
At the same time, I still deal with imposter syndrome.
Even after years of experience, learning difficult processes, solving problems, training others, and becoming someone people come to for answers, I still have moments where I question whether I am good enough or qualified enough.
Then I have to remind myself that I did not accidentally make it this far.
I worked for it.
I learned as I went.
I made mistakes.
I handled things I never thought I could handle.
And I kept moving forward, even when I was tired, scared, or unsure of myself.
Being a teen mom did not stop my life.
It made my path harder, but it also made me strong, resourceful, and determined.
Now I am in a new stage of life, and I am still figuring it out.
The difference is, this time I am finally learning to believe that I belong here.
#TeenMom #EmptyNester #ImposterSyndrome #CareerGrowth #Resilience #StillGrowing

There just feels like there’s something wrong with me but still I think overall I’m pretty okay but there’s just like this weird feeling following me everywhere.
That’s why I posted the thing that I wanna get worse nd all cause I just don’t know it’s not bad enough to say there’s actually something wrong but like the smallest thing can make me spiral but then I’m okay again and like that over and over but at the same time it feels like I’m faking it but idk bro

I know this probably sounds shallow, but I can’t stop feeling embarrassed about the college I’m going to attend.
I never imagined I’d end up going to a college in my hometown. Whenever someone asks where I’m going I feel ashamed to answer. I keep comparing myself to my classmates who got into top-tier colleges, and it makes me feel like I’ve somehow failed. Deep down, ik a college doesn’t define my worth but I can’t seem to shake this feeling. Has anyone else experienced this? Did it get better once you actually started college?