In business, making public your private struggles can cause damage, so most people silently suffer and hope there’s an end in sight. In industries where we are secretly competing with everyone around us, even if we’re on the same team, seeds of insecurity can blossom in unhealthy ways.
It’s hard to know if what you’re going through is normal, so we asked our readers to anonymously share with us what their biggest career insecurities are.
The most common answer? Imposter syndrome. Psychologists believe this to be more common in women, but we are seeing it more in men as well. The fear of being exposed as a fraud is common in high-achieving intelligent people who strive to be more accomplished and typically surround themselves with more accomplished people. It can be overwhelming.
In America, mental health issues are still seen by many as defects, as liabilities, which means many of us are isolated and alone in our experiences. If you’re feeling insecure about your career, especially with any of the following confessions, know that you are not alone (in fact, we recently published confessions about what makes people feel alone in their professional life).
Click any image for the full sized version, and feel free to steal it and share it. If you relate to any of these and want to tell your story, tell us in the comments, or use the image you relate to in your own social networks and link to this story. If you don’t relate to any, but want your network to know you care about them if THEY can relate, also share.
#MentalHealthAwareness
This story originally ran on March 15, 2016.
