A Letter To The People Who Doubt Themselves: Don’t Let Imposter Syndrome Keep You From Your Dreams

“To all the people who doubt themselves, I wrote this for you.

To all the people who want to quit on their dreams because Imposter Syndrome has camped out in their minds like an unwanted relative coming to visit, please, gather here.

Gather here to learn why you need to stay here.

Years ago, I read this on a McDonald’s billboard:

90 billion served.

It may have said over 90 billion.

I cannot remember.

Today, I just read that McDonald’s serves millions of customers daily.

Millions.

And guys, sometimes, even McDonald’s does not get it right.

Do not get me wrong: my love for McDonald’s is true and never-ending.

Golden arches that lit up our souls as kids will never stop lighting us up as adults.

If you know what is good in life, you know it lives in that Mac Sauce and that fry recipe.

Those fries.

I mean, those fries.

You know what I mean.

But even McDonald’s can serve those fries cold and a little old.

Even McDonald’s does not always fill the container of those fries up.

Even McDonald’s can slide by without giving you the best quality nuggets because they are not always freshly made.

Even McDonald’s can employ workers who do not always greet you with kindness even though they swear they love to see you smile.

They do, but they are flawed.

And so are you.

My point is this:

Even if the number one American fast-food restaurant can mess up and still sit as the kingdom on the highest hill with the yellowest, biggest golden arches, so can you.

You can be flawed and still be good at what you do.

You can mess up at work and still be an accurate representation of the skills on your resume.

You can still be a nice person even though you speak your mind.

You can still love people and not always see eye-to-eye with them.

You can still love yourself and not look like the image of perfection that only exists in your mind.

You can be a writer and not be the best at grammar. (I speak to myself. I write to myself. And to you.)

You can be a solid lawyer and lose cases.

You can be a teacher and still lose patience even though you are unfairly expected to be a saint.

You can be a cashier at the local gas station and still be successful.

You can never finish your college degree and still achieve so much.

You can still be good at things and not be perfect at things.

McDonald’s makes mistakes, and McDonald’s is amazingly an Americana success.

It is everything I wish I could have invented because it is THAT good.

But even the best will never be perfect.

And that is okay because McDonald’s still makes millions of people a day happy.

Danielle Steel still makes millions of readers across the globe get happily lost in pages without always having perfect grammar.

I was recently reading her blog.

I love her.

I am inspired to do what she does.

I want to soak up all of her advice.

And I learned something that recently freed me.

See, I write for a magazine, and the editor makes my grammar perfect.

I self-submit to digital media outlets, and those outlets are not as strict about grammar.

My grammar is not bad, but it is not pristine or close to perfect.

I Google where to put the comma as much as you do.

And comma Googling ensues an endless battle in my head: You are not a writer.

If you were a writer, you would be great at grammar.

As I embrace that writing and editing are different skills, I find freedom from Danielle Steel.

Her grammar is not perfect on her blog, yet she captivates the attention of millions with her books.

She is a household name, a cultural phenomenon, and a celebrated writer.

And not being completely perfect does not stop her, just like it does not stop McDonald’s from serving billions of people.

And just like it should not stop you.

Or me.

Ever.”

This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Felicia Naoum. You can follow their journey on Facebook. Be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories.