I got a letter from Maria. Says, I've been a social worker therapist for over 20 years now.

I moved to a new city two years ago with a specific goal of working for a prestigious mental health

provider located here. I was hired there for the second time I turned down a previous offer

six months ago. It's a great, if challenging job. Every single day, I feel like an imposter.

I hope it will get better, but I'm not holding my breath. Larry writes, I'm the poster boy for

imposter syndrome, or I could be if I believed I'd look good on the poster. I started my semi-adult

life as a theater student where I didn't audition

for shows I wanted to be in because I couldn't imagine why anyone would cast me. Then I went to law

school where I was convinced I was the least qualified, least capable student there because everybody

else seemed to have a passion for it while I was just trying not to starve. After graduation, I tried private practice with a boutique firm in Los Angeles, briefly,

but retreated to work as an appellate court clerk after finding that wearing a suit and tie

made me feel like I was still a theater student playing dress-ups surrounded by real lawyers.

But at least I was trained for that career.

After a decade in law, I made a

midlife shift to software engineering, which I've done more or less successfully for 25 years,

despite waking up every morning believing that everyone around me with their computer science

degrees knew more than I ever could or would. I'm almost at retirement age, and I've never held a job or been in a

relationship where I felt like I wasn't constantly being judged a fraud. This week's episode is

about imposter syndrome. It's depression mode. I'm John Moe. I'm glad you're here. An imposter syndrome, you can spell imposter with an OR or an ER, both ways are

correct. It exists in kind of an in-between place. It's not a mental disorder, at least according

to authorities on such things,

but it is a mental phenomenon that can really screw with you, make life more difficult. It can

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