As the year comes to an end, this is definitely something I’ve put off for the fear of the unknown. Naturally, I’m a writer (my English teachers say I waffle in my essays but that’s their own personal problem really). However, the thought of people I know (or don’t) knowing things about me that I’m not really open about is quite beyond me to be honest. After all that we’re here sha, I was pretty unsure about the direction of where this blog would take me but I’ll start here.
On to the main topic of my thoughts: the idea of the “Imposter Syndrome” -essentially feeling like an intruder/not belonging in a space in which you’re clearly entitled to. Coming to university; A predominately white one, at times I feel out of place especially because I don’t feel comfortable getting involved in university life catered more to white middle class students i.e Sports clubs/'Bar crawls'???/University committee roles etc.. Instead of wallowing in self pity and staying within my comfort zone I decided to say fuck woe is me and actually get involved in some shit.
Some of you are probably wondering, what did Alero do? Well... me being the very introverted, reserved, not good at public speaking self ran for the role of Women’s representative of the whole damn University and won?(yes I did that shit and I’m bloody proud of myself for it!). However that imposter syndrome got to me. In this, sometimes I feel I’m not capable of taking huge opportunities where I can do some good because I feel like an ‘imposter’, I’m incapable or my intellectually capacity does not see fit to do a good job like my peer committee members being so passionate in who they advocate for.
I’m not gonna tell you if you ever do feel the same way it will get better; but, one thing I’ve learnt is that the fear of failure and choosing to avoid things because of your fears, versus actually doing it and finding out there was never much to worry about in the first place (it’s never ever that bad anyways), should give you enough motivation to at least try things where you feel out of place. ✨
Challenges are definitely important for growth and what better way to start the new year by doing something that could potentially be the difference between you and the best version of yourself -don’t overthink it.
-Lero