06 Jun Stepping into Abundance Can Mean Feeling Like a Fraud
Stepping into abundance can mean feeling like a fraud, but it’s not the step or you that’s broken. It’s your idea of yourself. Image by osseous.
Stepping into Abundance Can Mean Feeling Like a Fraud
You know, stepping into abundance can mean feeling like a fraud for a little while. (I originally titled this post, “Stepping into Your Best Self Can Mean Feeling Like a Fraud,” til I realized that what I experience as my best self is abundance!)
I recently found myself unshaken by things that until recently would have depressed, freaked out, or angered me. I could observe the feelings and even feel them but I could very strongly feel my best self observing them, too. This is what abundant feels like to me: open, calm, peaceful, embracing of Life.
I realized I could go backward and tell myself I did indeed feel depressed, freaked out and angry. Or I could go forward and affirm the observing self calm and peace. I really had that choice, it wasn’t just a nice idea I read about.
I thought,
Wow, this is what it must feel like to become the person I am trying to be: abundant.
And then I thought:
This is a new take on “feeling like a fraud!”
“Feeling Like a Fraud”
There is a ton of writing–much of it very helpful–on feeling like a fraud. Click here for a quick scan.
Feeling like a fraud is also called “the imposter syndrome.” It arises when we find ourselves doing something we never thought we’d be able, allowed, or invited to do. This doesn’t make us frauds or imposters.
But it can help to acknowledge whatever luck, privilege, circumstance, or helpers that brought us to this point. It can help to become aware of the feeling of “fraudulence,” and be humble.
One of my favorite pieces on “Feeling Like a Fraud” is that very three-part series by Peggy Means McIntosh. (You may know her name because she also wrote the foundation piece on white privilege, “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.”) For her publications, click here.
Stepping into Your Abundance
To wrap up: when we embark on self-development, we want to change. If you read this blog, you probably want to feel your abundance.
This is no mystery or secret or anything to hide. Yet it can be quite a shock when we see ourselves changing!
This is what I’m talking about: when I saw that I had become more abundant, I could have chosen to feel like a fraud. But I didn’t. I credited myself and all my helpers, visible, invisible, living and past, for the change that I witnessed in myself. I didn’t deny, lie about, or downplay what I saw. (And I forgot to credit my luck, privilege, and circumstances. I’m doing that now.)
Yes, it felt scary, but that’s another post! This post is about my willingness to go there–to feel like a fraud to that part of myself that wanted to deny, lie about, or downplay the change I saw in myself.
I hope you also
No Comments