October 2025 -Halloween & Imposter Syndrome

Welcome!

October is the month of my favorite holiday “Halloween”!

 I look forward to Halloween, a night of excitement walking around NYC, with the streets filled with New Yorkers meeting up with friends and family dressed in creative customs ready for a fun night of “Trick or Treating’.  Halloween night in NYC communities is planned and celebrated with retail stores and restaurants taking part in giving out TREATS, block parties with entertainment and of course the famous Halloween Village parade.

Halloween is also a night a person can “be who they are” without the worry of being found out as an “imposter”.   What is Imposter syndrome?  The “Imposter syndrome is when a person questions their abilities which trigger a fear of being uncovered as a fraud. Have you ever felt you are not good enough even with all your accomplishments? Do you feel anxious about being discovered … you are a fraud?

If you answered yes, I suggest you read Dr. Jill Stoddard, PhD book  “Imposter Syndrome NO More – Overcome self-doubt and imposterism to cultivate a successful career” in which she lays out how to understand Imposter Syndrome evolution to Imposterism in our culture and provides actionable steps to develop skills through exercises to control self-doubt thoughts, fears and insecurities.

She explains the process as “Essentially we’re not attempting to change the substance of the thoughts and feelings that naturally occur to us; instead, we change the way we relate to those thoughts and feelings, so we aren’t caught up in the constant battle to control them”.

Dr. Stoddard suggested PAVE as one exercise to practice when the feeling of self-doubt arises, I have listed the steps she noted and detailed in her book below:

P: Pause and get present – take a deep, mindful breath and become aware of your thoughts and feelings.

A: Accept – make space for uncomfortable internal experiences, letting go of judgment and resistance.

V: Values – identify what matters and the Me you most deeply wish to be in this moment.

E: Execute – move your hands, feet, or mouth (the only things you get to control) in the direction of your values.

Dr. Stoddard, expresses her view, “I like to think of psychologically flexible living as showing up to each moment as your personally chosen, fully authentic self.”

What Halloween traditions do you look forward to in your community?

I look forward to sharing conversation and coffee with you soon!

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 HAT – Perfect for a Halloween Cavalier Buccaneer

A large fancy swashbuckler style, made of grey wool with wide turn up brim, the band is black silk with matching large floppy black silk  bow.

The design is completed with wonderful black sweeping tall feathers.