Board affiliate blog – Hannah Hornby – January 2023

Imposter syndrome

Minus five degrees outside, new year’s resolutions already broken and A&E overflowing – it must be January ! Over the past few weeks, we have started to feel the effects of winter pressures within the Trust which has meant that my clinical role has demanded more of my time. Committee meeting times have been shortened and there have been fewer Trainee Leadership Board meetings to enable us all to focus on patient safety, but I’ve still been making time to read papers and attend meetings. To be honest, this has been a welcome respite from what feels like relentless clinical pressure.

One job I had to do before Christmas was shortlist applications for the new Medical Board Affiliate and I am pleased to say that this role has now been filled by the lovely Sarah Lewis. Congratulations Sarah and welcome to the team! I still feel fairly new to it all myself and I’m not sure how long I can keep going with the ‘still finding my feet’ line but I will do my best to offer guidance and support, even with imposter syndrome continuing to lurk.

I have just googled imposter syndrome: ‘the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills’. I definitely have all the signs and symptoms so I am confident to self-diagnose this one, although as yet I haven’t identified a cure. *googles cure for imposter syndrome*: ‘share your feelings, celebrate your success, let go of perfectionism, reframe your thoughts and accept it.’ I think this is going to take a bit of time and I am grateful to have some very supportive colleagues around me to help me along the way.

As the first step in my recovery I will share one success, which is that I finally revealed to the Board that this blog exists, and I’ve had some very positive feedback. It has been suggested that I use it as a way of demystifying what the Board does so I have decided to include a short interview with different board members with each post, so watch this space next month!