The Imposter in My Medicine Cabinet
I have struggled with sleep for as long as I can remember. Some of it began when my children were young, waking in the night and training my body to remain hyper-vigilant. Even now, years later, my body has grown accustomed to waking at 3:30 a.m., as if waiting for the next inevitable disruption.
I have tried everything to "sleep train" myself: meditation, progressive relaxation, magnesium supplements, chamomile tea, cutting caffeine, avoiding food past 7 p.m., eliminating screens before bed—all the things. Recently, I decided to take another step and reached for a bottle of Tylenol PM, hoping to use it over the weekend to reset my body.
It didn’t work.
I increased my dose from half a pill to a full pill, but still, nothing changed. Then, a thought crept in like an unassuming calendar reminder: Check the expiration date.
Sure enough, the expiration date read 2019. Expired. Stale. Ineffective. I had placed my trust in something that no longer had the potency it once did. The label claimed one thing, but the reality was entirely different. In many ways, it was an imposter.
The Imposter Within Us
This moment got me thinking about imposter syndrome—how it shows up in our lives and how we, too, sometimes become imposters to ourselves. We work hard to present a version of ourselves that we hope the world will accept. We check the boxes, play the part, and convince ourselves that if we just keep going, we won’t get found out. But inside, we doubt our abilities, question our worth, and fear being exposed as a fraud.
How do we recognize when imposter syndrome is at play? We pause. We reflect. We notice. We ask good questions:
Am I undervaluing my abilities?
Am I waiting for someone else to validate my worth?
Am I afraid that if I stop striving, I will no longer be enough?
Moving Forward with Authenticity
The truth is, imposter syndrome can serve a purpose. It can push us to improve, to refine our skills, to seek deeper self-awareness. But it can also keep us stuck in a cycle of self-doubt, preventing us from owning our expertise and stepping into our full potential.
So, how do we break free? We remind ourselves:
We are allowed to grow and change. Expired beliefs about ourselves need to be thrown out, just like old medicine.
We can own our successes. Our achievements are not just luck or timing; they are the result of our effort and talent.
We belong in the spaces we occupy. If we’re here, it’s because we’ve done the work to be here.
Maybe we’re not trying to dupe ourselves or those around us. Maybe we’re simply learning to trust that we are exactly where we need to be.
So today, take a moment to check your internal “expiration dates.” What beliefs about yourself no longer serve you? What outdated narratives need to be tossed? You might just find that the real you—the capable, worthy, and strong you—has been there all along.
