Tired of Imposter Syndrome? What If You’re Just Fine Being ‘Basic’—and That’s Okay?

I'm actually going to read something that I wrote about imposter syndrome. And this is something that a lot of people talk about and a lot of people have written about. And I've over the years have said, you know what, I don't have imposter syndrome. But this is just not something that is in my frame of reference. And I say this because I think, you know, a lot of times when you're when you're consuming online media and you're reading all kinds of things from articles on LinkedIn to long form essays from the Atlantic and you start to consume this content believing that it's you or it's happening to you. And the reality is it's not. Somebody's actually giving you a narrative and it's starting to like penetrate your thinking and you're like, yes, that's me. I have imposter syndrome. Well, I've actually been thinking a lot about this because I actually don't think I have imposter syndrome, but what I do think I have is mediocrity. And it's something that is always in a struggle for me thinking about the word mediocrity.

You know, how does it define other people, you know, the fight against it. And somehow it's, it's couched in the, in the, the, the American construct of American exceptionalism or something, like you just can't be mediocre. So I actually wrote something about this. I wrote an essay about, you know, admitting that I am a mediocre woman and I'm going to read it now. I feel like people need to start thinking about themselves as average, you know,

You're not special. You're just, you know, an average person. You're mediocre and there's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to be a superstar. So anyway, here's my essay and I hope you enjoy it. And I would love for you to let me know what you think of my, of my essay about mediocrity. You know, it's kind of a big deal. It's a big concept. People don't talk about it. So anyway, okay. Here we go.

I am a mediocre woman.

I am average, one of the mill, just skirting along in the background of life. And I'm 100 % okay with it. All these years, I've been chasing a false dream, believing that everything I'm doing, everything I represent, everything I believe in is exceptional. Like America, I've believed that I'm exceptional. The reality is that I found I'm not exceptional. I'm just like everybody else. I am basic.

Just like Anna Delvey quipped in the show, Inventing Anna, I'm not a fire emoji, an asteroid, a bomb, or the goat. In fact, the algorithm proves this. Everything I say, my thoughts, the clothes I wear, the books I read, the music I listen to, there are millions of segmented audiences out there in the world, crossing the same streets, ordering the same hot teas, visiting the same Instagrammable locations, using the same celebrity beauty products.

and consuming it all and getting the same average results. Nothing to see here. Keep it moving, please. The first time it dawns on you that you are cloaked in sameness can be a surprise and a letdown. But then the beauty of ripping off the mask and instead settling into everyday living can be a spectacular release. With limited expectations, you become less afraid to be alone with your own thoughts. Keeping up with updated social media filters plastered on fake faces.

becomes exhausting. You recognize that feeling instantly and you just hang up. No more anxiety caused by following the bestselling new authors and self -published writers releasing memoirs and masterpieces that they believe everyone wants to read. Seeing influencers traveling all over their glamorous world, showing off their impeccable fashion, compliments of the big brands, bores you.

But not the boredom you remember from childhood though, when none of your friends were available to play and you had to make your own fun. No, you become bored at a deeper level, a kind of boredom that leaves you limp with a migraine staring into the cosmos, asking yourself, why? What is my purpose? This is what toxic go, go, go entrepreneurship powered by social media branding will do to you. It's taught us to believe that when we don't have social clout, or our own business or an entrepreneurial foundation, we are not valuable enough, not worthy enough. We are dopey and aimless, maybe even homeless to an outsider's point of view. In fact, we are A plus boring. And yet there's something to be celebrated for life as an A plus boring NPC of just walking down the streets, driving around, grocery shopping, reading a book that transports you alone in your imagination.

relaxing into a mental chill made possible only by the words and sentences on real paper. And I for sure am not suggesting that you shouldn't strive for your own definition of greatness. But there are a few things we can all focus on that bring real value. Things like physical and mental wellness in all dimensions, creating personal spaces that only you can visit and use to create something. Using and listening your own

thoughts and your own voices. Day to day waking up and looking at the sky. Leaving your home for a walk or run with no phone and just one piece of identification. Striving to be debt free and use cash. Smile at people. And how about wearing basic cotton clothes, comfortable, loose and breathable.

I don't know an easy way to get to this place of personal acceptance of self and mediocrity. It's really truly hard to look at the mirror and say, hmm, I'm okay being a nobody. But we should try and reject the premise that we have to be great at everything or even great at one thing to be valuable and relevant. We're up against a lot. Those of us who dare to accept living in the background of life.

In America, mediocrity is never celebrated and not having a social media profile these days is sus. But American acceptance religion requires intense professional drive, ambition, hustle, endless cycles of business development, relentless pursuit of perfection, focus and conversions from the moment you step out of your car, multiple and successful transactional experiences every single day.

the pre -qualifying of a guaranteed ROI. I once shouted my mother -in -law down, my children will not be mediocre. After she shouted at me, pray for average, JinJa. I was horrified and questioned whether I'd made the right decision about the family I married into, terrified that my husband subscribed to her wish and that I'd be doomed to become Enid Lambert, the redemptionless mother in Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections.

Well, today I look forward to learning about people who brag about their Quittodian lives in typical towns working for someone else in a quiet regular job where they don't expect you to be a voracious company brand ambassador. Living in unpretentious homes, eating unpretentious food, doing non -glamorous things like sitting in a chair, looking out the window at a tree, reading trash fiction, and just walking around poking things like a random player in a video game.

I now believe that there's zero wrong with that kind of existence. Have you ever wondered why America makes us fight so hard against mediocrity? Think about it. What's wrong with being regular? Why do we need to have a side hustle of being an entrepreneur? What made us believe that having friends who are not public and not posting all the time is a bad way to enjoy life? The time is now to welcome the possibility that we are not exceptional and that frankly, neither is America.

Once we do this, we can take a collective deep breath.

Accept our shared and basic common humanity and calm the F down.

I'd love to hear your comments about mediocrity. It's a trigger word. People hate it. They don't want to be mediocre, but you know what? That's life. So thanks for listening. See you next time. I'm JinJa Birkenbeuel host of the Honest Field Guide podcast and CEO of Birk Creative.

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