Last night I put my hand outside a window and touched rain for the first time in years. The small blobs dabbing all over my hand and dampening my sleeve. The weight that built up little by little as water coagulated on my skin. The wondrous earthy smell of the air accompanied by a chill you just don’t get from being cold indoors. The song of droplets hitting different surfaces. Along with cars rolling though puddles. All that was missing was school kids getting splashed and a pubescent voice changing in octaves exclaiming ‘Aww you wot mate. Me mum’s gonna we well angry. OI Greg, think me shoes will squeak now, they best not squeak. Aww me days!’

Fortunately for the preteens but unfortunately for my amusement, the car splash didn’t happen and instead I withdrew my hand and with it came the wave of imposterism. A sensation of weather people experience every day and I forgot how it truly felt. How can I possibly aspire to write when I cannot recall such a mundane experience for the majority? How can I even be a person when I know and have even less experience of life, only playing and analysing memories.

Imposter syndrome is what most would put it as. But I feel it has become one of those terms that has lost its meaning and has become a turn of phrase for a wide catchment of inadequacy feeling.



Reading through information about imposter syndrome I was reading descriptions and I found myself matching the words with character analysis. Which brings us to this week’s poll:

Does Willow have Imposter Syndrome?

Yes – The constant yearning to be like Buffy, the perceived strength and ability to overcome everything. While Willow is there in the trenches and on man’s land, it’s only Buffy who is called the Slayer. Maybe Willow doesn’t see her own success as it is blinded by Buffy’s legacy.

No – She fully understands what she does and is capable of, she sees the results and defends her choices. Her grievances lay in jealousy of recognition instead of the inability to see her own successes.

---

My gut tells me no. But it's the talk with Buffy at the end of wrecked that makes me look into it further.

Depending on how much you value Glamour magazine psychology There are apparently five types of imposter syndrome. Three of them sound very Willow.

Perfectionism - perfectionists typically set very high expectations for themselves and that even if they meet 99% of those goals, a small loss will feel like a large failure. When mistakes happen, perfectionists question their core competence, which can easily translate to feelings of imposter syndrome.

Natural Genius - has been top of the class for as long as they can remember, and in their school days, success came relatively easily. As they grow and mature, however, they are bound to encounter scenarios where achievement doesn’t present itself as second nature, and hard work or struggle is required for their desired results. As they aren’t used to this, natural geniuses tend to suffer from imposter syndrome, feeling that the struggle to meet their goals is a sign that they lack ability and aren’t “good enough.”

Superhero - push themselves to work harder than everyone around them to prove that they’re not imposters. Their expectations for themselves are higher than their expectations of others, and they feel a sometimes overwhelming need to succeed in every element of their life – at work and at home. Their feelings of imposter syndrome will be triggered when one of these areas is not as strong as another. Working harder than others to prove your worthiness, or to cover up feelings of being an imposter, can quickly lead to burnout, and be detrimental to your mental health.

Definitions taken from the above link.

I will say though for natural genius, I'm mainly thinking her magic use because Willow does put the work in academically and with magic research but with magic it's the consequence that I see as the struggle that imposes the possible imposter syndrome on her.

So then I'm trying to see if any of this matches up with the Wrecked talk



I don't see any of these in this especially when looking at the whole conversation between the two of them. it's very much about her magic use as opposed to not being able to see her achievements as whole. She knows what she is capable of when it's good and neglects the bad. So I'm sticking with my gut of no.

But looking further into Willows character throughout 6 series and one that doesn't exist, I think there's a very strong argument for yes.

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