Neil Gaiman, the British author, once described his experience of impostor syndrome in a story that has since become widely cited. He found himself at a gathering of artists, scientists, writers, and pioneers – people who had, in his words, “really done things.” Despite his own success, he felt as though he didn’t belong. At any moment, he feared, someone would realize he was not truly qualified to be there.

Then, one evening, he struck up a conversation with a polite elderly gentleman who, like him, seemed somewhat out of place. The man spoke quietly about his own sense of unease, saying he often wondered what he was doing among such accomplished people. Gaiman empathized – until the man added, almost casually, that he had “just gone where he was sent.” Only later did it fully register that he had been speaking to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. Gaiman later reflected that the encounter gave him comfort: if even Neil Armstrong could feel like an impostor, then perhaps this feeling was universal.

That intuition turned out to be correct. The term impostor syndrome was coined in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes to describe the internal experience of believing one’s achievements are undeserved, that success is fraudulent, and that at any moment others will discover the truth. Studies suggest that between 60 and 70 percent of people experience this feeling at some point in their lives. In an age shaped by social media, where we constantly encounter curated images of others’ “perfect” lives, the sense of inadequacy can become even more intense.

The question, then,........

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