I must admit that I had never come across imposter syndrome until recently. I was on Twitter when someone, a self-published author, mentioned that they felt like they were not worthy of being called an author. That they felt like they were an imposter. There then followed a discussion on Imposter syndrome.
Around this time, it was announced in the UK that the TV chat show host and journalist Michael Parkinson had passed away. Parkinson interviewed many famous people from all walks of life. He was considered to be the best in the business, the UK equivalent of Johnny Carson. He was particularly good with great story tellers, like David Niven and Peter Ustinov.
Then I read an article where his son Mike Parkinson said that his father had suffered from Imposter Syndrome, a feeling that he was not worthy of the undoubted success that he had achieved. He said that his famous father did not have as much self-confidence as he appeared to have on TV.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66605926
It's remarkable to think that someone who was so successful had so much self-doubt, but it does seem to happen quite a lot to those in the creative arts. I'm sure that many who have a written a book, fiction or non-fiction, have wondered to themselves, “why would anyone want to read what I've written”. I've certainly had that self-doubt.
When I was a lot younger, I would often hear people say things like “don't have ideas above your station” or “know your place”. It could be a class thing, or just that being from a certain background, you were not expected to be anything. Michael Parkinson had working class roots, the people he worked for at the BBC were typically from a different background.
Knowing your place is difficult to overcome. I'm still trying to beat it. My self-doubt makes me wonder if I ever will.
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