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bee mayhew's avatar

Chris, this is wonderful and brutal. It breaks my heart that you would have to work so hard to get where you are and elucidates that all the wrong people end up with imposter syndrome. I'm the opposite of you in so many ways, but your story resonates profoundly- for me I was anti mental illness, denying there was anything "wrong" with me and didn't start medication until my mid 30's after the birth of my son- largely precipitated by post partum depression (but that I can now see through the lens of TPD) that had me in a state of extreme psychosis. I was faking it until I could make it, then medication "magically" became a set of crutches to hold me up and heal. And the brain space it cleared was a revelation.

But it was temporary. I kept itching toward understanding myself and also knew there was *more* to it. That sent me on a dalliance with pathology and I feel lucky as hell that it "only" took a decade to detach from that and move toward the truth of my inherent existential intelligence.

I didn't have a "career" or a "proper" education so spent decades gaslighting myself into believing I didn't know what I was talking about. Bumping into you, at this crossroads in my journey gives me so much hope and optimism in US, in the reach of TPD and of helping make sense of myriad life experiences for ourselves and our communities. What a gift to the world you are!

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