During my senior seminar I slightly tackled the idea of imposter syndrome through my #IAm, but I've seen imposter syndrome creep into other areas of my life since that project ended. Last week I'll admit that I popped by my advisor's office for what I thought would only be a brief second but then turned into me crying and second-guessing everything in my life. I'm a big planner. I'm also a big people pleaser. So many things were rattling around in my head about what I thought I should do post-grad and what I thought others would want me to do post-grad that I was psyching myself out. That moment was the first time it really sunk in that I was leaving the bubble of traditional education and entering the real world. He told me that I should just go out into the "real world" and live, to not have any expectations for what it may or may not be like. The "planner" in me didn't like that because I wanted to know right then what I was doing, but I took that information, signed up for an official time to meet with him again and went on with my week.As I went into my meeting this week I felt much more calm and collected as I mulled over his advice. This time my advisor reminded me that life takes you a lot of unexpected ways that are impossible to predict. What I decide as a 21 year old does not set in stone the rest of my life or career. He shared stories of past students and friends who ended up doing all sorts of different things from what they thought they'd do in college. Even though my stress regarding my future is something I can't always help, he gave me a reminder I really needed. No one has it all figured out & that's okay. Every person has a unique path and that's okay. You worth doesn't come from comparison to others. Your journey is your journey.
