Letters for Creatives #32: Imposter syndrome and advice from Seth Godin
You are stepping out of your comfort zone
Hello, I am Celeste. Thank you 140 of you for being here. If you would like to receive it every Thursday, be a part of the family. The archive of past issues can be found here. Go to the directory to find what you need.
Image: Poem and photo by Celeste
Nothing changes in terms of how nature works. Summer is almost here. The sunlight still come through my room. I do not need to turn on the light as I used to in winter. Birds are chirping as they usually do every day. It is just me who is overwhelmed with the things on my plate.
I am not feeling my best. What would I do if I am a friend? I am too good at giving advice and not taking care of myself enough. It is okay to take time off, reduce the workload and slow down.
Take care of yourself if you are balancing several projects all at once. It is even more important to take weekends off when your workload is heavy.
Imposter syndrome
I am familiar with the feeling of being a fraud, especially when I started this newsletter. Reading what others write on Substack keeps me inspired but doubt my writing at times. It is the same for my poetry.
Seth Godin, who has been written for around 20 years and published 19 bestsellers, responded to the issue with this incredible reflection on a podcast.
You feel that way because you are an imposter. And so am I. Because if you are doing work that hasn't been done before, which means creativity or leadership, then you can't be sure it's going to work. Because it's never been done before.
And so instead of denying how you feel, you might look at how you feel as a symptom that you were doing something important and generous. And when that feeling shows up, we can welcome it, we can sit with it. Because to harder, we try to make it go away, the more powerful it becomes.
Godin got a new book called The Practice, about creativity and feeling joy doing it.
This video by Tyler Babin and the website he built deals with the same problem that are particularly common for creative people. Tina Fey and Emma Watson feel like a fraud at times. You are not alone.
Featured poem
Zainab used my April prompt return to my mind, body and soul for this empowering piece. To read the entire poem, you can visit her Instagram.
She breathed deeply,
and called the power of blessings,
and words to return to her mind, body and soul,
to rejuvenate and revive her
to be a new woman with every waking alphabet.– Zainab Ansari
Thank you for reading!
If you want to show your support, consider becoming a paying subscriber or getting a poetry print for your sanctuary. I am grateful that Zainab got one from me and the poem is about letting go. You can choose the poem from my Instagram and message me to get one.
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Until next time,
Celeste
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April writing prompts and dealing with burnout