How Caitlyn C's It

If you ask my friends, I’m superhuman. They always compliment how much I do for my major and ask me how they can improve their resume or internship chances. While I’m flattered – and I definitely go to class more than the average Nittany Lion – it’s entirely a facade.

In every single club I’m in or internship I’ve had, I’ve felt entirely underqualified and underprepared. On the outside, I’m smiling in photos at the launch party for the lifestyle magazine I write for. On the inside, I’m asking who in their right mind let me write a story about Eastern self-care?

When it comes to this particular “syndrome,” there is a common advice people give to those freaking out about their ability to do their job: come on, everyone has imposter syndrome!

While I understand that snippet of advice might be true, I don’t find it settling. A different set of words have allowed me to preserver with a severe imposter syndrome: fake it until you make it.

Confidence is the medicine for imposter syndrome

You only know people by what they tell you and how they show you who they are. Really you have no clue if your boss truly is the commanding force he is in meetings in his real life – or even to himself.

That is exactly how I’ve gotten this reputation as the girl who has her stuff together because God knows (aka my mom) I don’t. I don’t ever walk around with my head down, I don’t stay quiet in group projects, I don’t let people walk over me and most of all, I don’t act like an underqualified person.

When I talk about not acting like an underqualified person, I mean I don’t live like one. I get up early, do my work on time, eat healthy (most of the time, at least before 8 p.m.), command the rooms I’m in, you get it. Underqualified people lay around, complain, watch TV instead of doing their work, and mope around like unimportant people.

The key to combatting imposter syndrome, at least on the outside, is acting like no one else does it like you. Work hard and emulate an aura that isn’t cocky or rude but rather confident and irreplaceable. Even if you think you’re the dumbest person at your company, if everyone thinks you’re irreplaceable, you’re golden.

Now I don’t encourage sweeping those feelings under the rug. Understanding why you feel inadequate or undeserving is important because it could lead to issues in the future. I’ve realized that I have an imaginative brain, so my brain loves to make up scenarios like:

Um, Caitlyn, you only got this job because you’re from Penn State, and they were desperate. You’re honestly lucky that they didn’t overlook you, but let’s be honest, you don’t even know what you’re doing anyway.

So when those fun and kind inner monologues come up, I find it helpful to ask yourself: who told you that? If you have a person you can answer with, then yes, worry. If you can’t come up with anybody who would’ve said that or any reason someone would think that, just remember that it’s just your creative brain making up dumb-ass stories.

One of my favorite quotations ever is, “Whatever is meant for you will not miss you.” So if you are someone with imposter syndrome – which is nearly everyone – you are exactly where you need to be.

As long as you didn’t lie on your resume or interview, relax; being somewhere you don’t feel you belong is a sign that other people see your potential and you just can’t see it quite yet.