Many women with ADHD feel like they are imposters. The reason being is that women hide your struggles from the struggles from the general public. Friends, family and coworkers know that you are smart and get things done, however you know you that you have to work more hours or not say certain things in public that may not embarrass you. When you keep this part of you hidden, it can bring on feelings of shame, guilt, and fear on what would happen if the individuals in your life found out about the real you.
What Are The Signs of Imposter Syndrome?
In Dr. Judith Beck’s blog entitled “Do You Have the Imposter Syndrome?” describes five different behaviors of individuals of imposter syndrome.
– “You don’t believe your success was connected to your hard work, intelligence, creativity or Instead, you feel it must be due to luck, a fluke, or another random factor.
-You don’t celebrate success. Instead, you look at the next thing that needs to be done. Rather than feel proud of the presentation you did, you think, “Yes, but what about the one in two weeks? I have to prepare for that.” You spend no time basking in the glory of a job well done.
-You spend lots of time and energy thinking about what didn’t go well, even if it was only a very tiny detail. You dwell on the negative, and you spend no time thinking about your successes or what did go well.
-You disregard your accomplishments or the praise you receive for them. You don’t believe you deserve it or feel that you should have done better.”
-You regularly compare yourself to others, and it is always unfavorable. You might think, “They didn’t have to work through the night to prepare the presentation, and they got better results than me.” (Beck 2011)
When a women with ADHD realize there is a name for how they have been feeling, they usually feel a huge sense of relief. Knowing that they aren’t alone is comforting.
Ways To Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Name It To Tame It- The first step to figuring out that you have a problem is acceptance. When you acknowledge that you have imposter syndrome you can change your mindset which can assist you to stop the feelings of you are not good enough and bring you back to realizing that is just your perceptions and you are actually not good enough.
Part With Perfectionism- Being a perfectionist is common for a women with ADHD to develop and I know that parting with perfectionism is easier said than done. However to part with the stress and anxiety of not measuring up, you may need to part with it and learn how to except the messiness of life at certain times.
Embrace Your Authentic Self– Take time to embrace your inner nerd, your flaws and your strengths. If someone doesn’t like your authentic self, then they are just jealous that they can’t embrace their own.
Beck, Judith S. Beck, PhD, Do You Have the Imposter Syndrome? November 17, 2011, Retrieved https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-imposter-syndrome_b_656252