A peaceful morning in Deep Cove, North Vancouver
Many residents experience impostor syndrome. There are numerous Reddit threads and other residency focused online communities dedicated to discussing the experiences of impostor syndrome among residents.
What can be done to address impostor syndrome?
David Roche, elite ultrarunner and coach, discusses impostor syndrome within high performance populations.
As David mentions:
” there is no light at the end of the tunnel, just more tunnel. There is no endpoint of validation that will come from running [or practicing medicine, or anything, for that matter], that’s for sure. You’re going to screw up and fail, many times over. That’s part of the fun! We can celebrate that together alongside the successes. We can celebrate the fear alongside the joy, the tears alongside the laughs….
So embrace the darkness in the tunnel as much as you can, even if it’s daunting sometimes. Grab a light, find some friends, and ideally a therapist or other professional to talk to. We’re all in this tunnel together, and together, we form an amazing tunnel gang“.
In other words, many people experience impostor syndrome, even elite athletes and doctors. As a means to counter impostor syndrome, David points out that there is no magical event where one reaches the end of feeling like an impostor. With this in mind, he suggests to embrace the process of uncertainty, recognize that mistakes are inevitable, and to share these experiences with others as we work to mitigate these feelings of impostor syndrome together. After all, we can chase our dreams in the face of self-doubt.
