Do you ever feel like you aren’t good enough? Imposter syndrome is real and so hard to overcome because of the negative thoughts that run through our minds. But thoughts are just thoughts unless we give them power. We as individuals need to learn not to empower those negative thoughts. Not to allow the voice inside us to beat us down with our own self-doubts. So then how do you crush them? Here are three things you can do to help you battle imposter syndrome.

The first thing you can try is to argue it out with yourself! I know it sounds funny but seriously let your own negativity forward and battle them. Pretend your thoughts are coming from a friend, what would your arguments against those thoughts be? Talk at yourself into a mirror, talk to a wall, pick up a stuffed animal, or you can talk it out in your head, but in the end, the point is to talk yourself out of your negative thoughts. Fight dirty too. Come up with the worse possibilities, worst-case scenarios, or the most outrageous possibilities, the thing that will probably never happen then argue it out logically against your fears. Because voicing those negative thoughts instead of letting them simmer and stew inside your head challenges those thoughts and gives you an opportunity to question their validity.

Another thing to try is to phone a friend and yes I just aged myself, but it works. I have a few friends I trust with my own crazies, those are the type of friends you need to reach out to at this time. They are the friends that will call you on your issues or talk you down from the mental ledge of reason. The friends you know are with you through thick and thin. Don’t be afraid to reach out to them, they will understand, and in return the next time they are feeling the need to vent their insecurities you can return the favor. Like voicing your thoughts, reaching out about them is important because their power comes from isolating you, from churning you up from the inside out. Talking to a friend gives them a chance to question the truth of those negative thoughts.

The third thing you can do to battle imposter syndrome is to give yourself time with your deity. Give them your gratitude, talk to them, and tell them your concerns and your fears. Give them your energy. Light a candle in their honor, meditate, cleanse, and clean their altars. Spend time in their presence in a way that feels right to you. They are our deities for a reason, they give us a sense of peace and remind us why we do our witchy things, they remind us of why we began walking this path, how far we have come, and how in fact we are not phonies. Spending time with them gives us a chase to release those negative thoughts to the powers beyond our realm.

Disempowering imposter syndrome is how we beat it. Writing this, my first blog for Wytchy Reader has brought up this feeling multiple times and it has taken all three of these things to get me here. But you know what, I did it, and when this blog reaches the eyes that needed to read these words, it will all have been worth it, even if I never know it happened.