If you work in mental health, healthcare, wellness, or management, do you ever find yourself asking:
Who am I to be doing this?
How am I supposed to help others when I’m struggling myself?
How do I do this work when I feel like a fraud, or when I am questioning the point of all this?
Whether you’re new to your field or well-seasoned, there will likely be times when self-doubt interferes with your deeper intention to be of service. Mark Silver from Heart of Business invited me to a conversation on these questions quite a while ago now, and I haven’t had a chance to share it with you yet! Between his business coaching work with self-employed folks and the consultation and counseling I do with therapists and other wellness professionals, we found a lot of resonance in the way we understand imposter syndrome.
I hope this conversation inspires new perspective and self-trust as you navigate work and life.
With care,
Julia Aziz
PS- If you’d like to learn a little more about my own winding path to the work I do now, check out this interview by VoyageAustin.
“I know something is changing, but I have no idea what’s next.”
“I’m not sure what’s happening, how I feel, or why!”
I’ve been hearing these themes a lot lately. Some feel they’re at an unfamiliar crossroads; others are grappling with existential questions. In this Great Unsettling, it seems as if one phase is shifting without us knowing what the next one will be. Like driving through a fog and missing all the signposts, it’s a vulnerable time to be moving through.
What’s exhausting you could be your vehicle of transformation
If we accept the truth of what’s happening now, we can “offer up” our weariness, confusion, and existential uncertainty. Offering means we let what is hard for us become sacred. We acknowledge that the road ahead runs precisely through the territory we like to avoid, and we take that road in the spirit of soul growth, with courage. Surrendering some resistance, we may feel more open to receive from unexpected directions.
Changing the questions we’re asking
When we can say “I don’t know” honestly, with open curiosity, “What’s the point?” may no longer be such a heavy question. There’s something about admitting lack of control that frees up the mind to see things differently. We come back to what’s in front of us right here. Rather than “What do I do?” we might ask, “What do I do next?”
Remembering where to find the inner compass
I’ve never been one for roller coasters or winding mountain roads. I feel that instability deep in my core, right away! Maybe you’ve got the stomach for turbulence, though you still may not feel thrilled by the ride of personal and collective change. It helps to know if there’s a voice inside saying “Aghhhhhhh!!!”, there’s also one that’s good at handling things. It’s the part of us that shows up for other people when they need it. That competent, fierce, adaptable part has a better sense of direction than the tired and frightened inner child. In this new terrain, we might intentionally ask the inner adult to take the wheel.
New rules to the game?
There’s not just one insight that changes everything, and then we’re good to go forever more. So much spiritual seeking seems to have this flavor of “if I just change in this one way, I’ll be golden, and then I can finally coast.” Who came up with this silliness? Everything alive on this earth is in some cyclical process. Life is temporary; the mystery of life is always.
If you’re struggling to find your way, I hope you reach out and ask for some help. We’re really not meant to be doing all this life stuff alone. When there’s too much constriction to let in support, clearing some things out can make all the difference. Change, of course, requires some creativity–and undoing.
Wherever we go, I’m glad to be on this wild ride with you,
Julia Aziz, LCSW-S, OIM 