Impostor Syndrome (IS); That time when you never feel good enough

When you hear the word “impostor,” what do you really think of?
Most of us who lived through the pandemic at the beginning of 2020 probably heard it far too often — that the impostor is the bad guy in Among Us.

pic from verywell website

According to the Oxford Online Dictionary:

Impostor (n): a person who pretends to be somebody else in order to trick people.

Meanwhile, from Verywell Mind:

Impostor Syndrome: refers to an internal experience of believing that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be. While this definition is usually applied to intelligence and achievement, it also has links to perfectionism and the social context.

pic from the verywell website

The first time I heard this phrase was from my super-duper brilliant high school friend.
Ironically, she never thought she was brilliant. Back then, when most of us were already working or pursuing higher degrees, she was still thinking about doing a specialization in her medical studies. Because of that, she didn’t feel as great as everyone else.


Well, .. I felt it too. The feeling may come and go.



Before moving on, I'd like to say that this writing isn't academic and it's based on my experience and thought only. Okay...

Have you ever felt that you are never enough?
That annoying feeling that no matter how much you’ve achieved, your failures somehow feel more significant? Every time I think about this, I remember a conversation I had with my housemate during a field trip. He said,

“Humans are more attached to negative stories and feelings than to positive ones.”

Is it really like that?
When I scroll through the news on any platform, it seems true — negative stories do sell more.

As an English teacher who often deals with proficiency tests like TOEFL, I can relate deeply to his words. In the TOEFL Structure section, there are two types of questions:

• Completion items, where test-takers must choose the correct word or phrase to fill in a blank.

• Error analysis, where test-takers identify which of four options contains a grammatical mistake.

Interestingly, most students find the error analysis questions easier than the completion ones. Out of the 40 questions, only 15 ask us to “find the correct answer,” while 25 ask us to “find the error.”

What does this tell us?
That we are naturally more prone to notice mistakes.

(Original piece from December 2022 — continued in 2025)

Our brains are wired to notice negativity more than happiness. From an evolutionary point of view, our survival instincts trained our brains to stay on alert to protect us. We learn faster from painful experiences than from pleasant ones, because avoiding danger has always been key to survival.

That’s why negative memories leave deeper footprints than positive ones. It’s also why, in a workplace event, we may receive five compliments — but what stays rent-free in our minds is that one harsh comment.

This natural process of the brain, when it happens to overthinking individuals, can grow into something bigger.
A person who takes criticism too deeply — even with a shelf full of awards — may begin to see themselves as inadequate.

And this… is where impostor syndrome slowly creeps into our daily thoughts and perceptions.

At the end of the day, let this be a gentle reminder — a tool to help us stay humble, and to keep believing that everyone we meet in life knows something we don’t. The next time you hear that small voice inside your head saying, “You’re not enough,” let it become fuel to push you forward, not a brake that holds you back.

Impostor syndrome will always be there — even the most accomplished people experience it. But perhaps, it’s not a sign of weakness at all. It’s a sign that we are still learning, still growing, and still becoming.