Imposter Syndrome — Imposter Island Is More Like It — 10 Ways to Manage It

I have been doing my Melbourne radio program for 27 years. I interview over 100 people each year. I have shared the show with people like Jane Goodall, Gene Cernan (Apollo 17), and Neil deGrasse Tyson. I’ve been told I’m one of the best interviewers around and my show gets more popular every year.

Some days, as I drive to the station, I feel like a complete imposter. Thankfully, nobody notices.

I’ve been thinking about writing this article for quite some time, but until recently I had never really felt like an imposter. On occasion, I might have doubted my abilities, but nothing too serious. I was also very mindful that this problem at least appears to affect women more than men — so who was I to talk about this?

But imposter syndrome can be brought on by many things, and recently I have realised that even the most confident of us can feel it when our mental health is at a low point.

Over the last 12 months, my mental health has been harder hit than I have ever experienced in my life. I noticed recently that my mood had become independent of what was happening around me. Everything seemed to be a struggle; most disturbing were the things that I normally found easy. I started to fear things that in the past didn’t bother me at all. At work I cringed at the idea of RUOK day. What would I say…