No One Really Knows

One of the most liberating aspects of adulthood is when (if) you finally realize that basically no one has any clue what they're doing. If we're lucky we may eventually have one or two subjects we're good enough at that we might even be willing to admit to ourselves that we really "understand it." With most everything else we're just winging it or pretending.

Imposter syndrome is something everyone deals with. Every time you walk into an intimidating room and feel like you don't belong, you can rest assured that 80% of the other inhabitants feel exactly the same way. The other 20% is a mix and the most confident folks usually know the least.

There is an elite, smaller group in that 20% who have learned to admit, publicly, that they don't know. They don't care if the rest of the group thinks they are asking a stupid question. They've learned that actually learning how to do something is more fulfilling than looking like you know how to do something and being willing to ask questions is the only way to get there.

There should be an entire class on Imposter Syndrome in elementary school, whenever we first start to feel afraid to ask questions for fear of looking foolish. It's a cultural norm we could choose to do away with and save everyone a ton of anxiety in the process.