You ARE an Impostor but there is NO Syndrome
It is true, you are an Impostor and always will be. The good news is, so is everybody else.
In Buddhism we have a tale about an old boy who after decades of study with teachers and then a couple more decades of meditating alone in a cave left India to arrive in China at the ripe old age of 108.
The Emperor of China heard about the impression he was having and had the old boy brought before him. The emperor asks some questions and did not like the answers he received and in a fit of rage shouted, ‘Who do you think you are?’ He calmly responded, “I do not know”.
After 108 years of contemplation and introspection, He did not know. He died in the now famous Shaolin Monastery in the mid-6th century.
So this has been going on for a long time. It is not a syndrome that has developed in the west and certainly not a curse on the Millennial generation.
The Syndrome (disease or disorder) that is being propagated is by those that want you to think you are a victim.
Having someone or something to blame is always easier than facing the fact that we are human and the Human Condition is riddled with paradoxes and unknowns. Who AM I?
The Impostor is actually one of the useful aspects of self. In brief, at an immature stage, the Impostor helps you fake it until you make it; something we all must do as we grow. At a more mature stage the Impostor keeps us flexible, creative and calm through the unknowns, which appears outwardly as confidence.
IMHO, the burden that our new young leaders are waking up to is not that they are Impostors, but that people are drawn to mature impostors and project their fears and insecurities onto them. A whole other topic …
I believe that Millennials beginning to see this at such a young age is a very optimistic sign. You will work it through and still have many years to apply the wisdom you gain. Unlike, the path of the boomer generation.
You are actually at the forefront. Please do not get sucked into being and acting like a victim.
May your lives go well.
