Confident Imposters

Confidence is power. We say that all the time, we know it’s true… and yet, despite how hard we try, some of us just cannot manifest confidence in certain areas of our lives. We feel like imposters when we try and then give up quick. Here is a light weight example from my life:

• This is what happens when the server arrives at any restaurant with items on the menu I can’t pronounce: First, the classic instant onset panic ensues as I make an awkward attempt at pronouncing my order; all the while frantically pointing to what I want to eat on the menu, followed by a quick apology for not knowing how to pronounce said menu item. This all accompanied with full body sweats and nervous laughter. What is so bazaar is that sometimes I DO know the correct pronunciation, yet when the server asks what I want, the aforementioned scenario goes down.

That example is actually pretty funny to witness, and it’s not that big of a deal. However, I get caught up in this same dilemma in more important areas of my life on the reg: career, motherhood, marriage… If life is a menu, I’m nervously mispronouncing my way through it. Surely a lot of us feel this way. However, I know there are confident imposters out there who appear to be fluent in life’s tricky dialect. Of course, they too still stumble over mispronunciations, but their confidence allows them to recover gracefully.

I’m eternally grateful for those who are eloquent in the language of life. They bring those of us who are less proficient a bit of hope. After all, they too were once imposters like me.