Not good enough? Reflections on imposter syndrome

Feeling unworthy, doubting your abilities, fearing you’ll be found out … these characteristics of ‘imposter syndrome’ can mean life is led in a state of uncertainty and disappointment in oneself, which might ring true with many listeners to Things I Wish I Knew. Angelo Jesus Canta SJ admits that he hasn’t been exempt from this in religious life, but he is learning to tell himself a different story and see himself as God sees him.

There is a particular kind of doubt that often goes unnoticed. It is not doubt about God's existence or goodness, but doubt about ourselves. It whispers that we are not capable enough, faithful enough or worthy enough for the task before us. Even when others see gifts in us, we struggle to believe them ourselves.

This experience, often described as imposter syndrome, is increasingly common. It affects students beginning university, professionals stepping into new roles, parents wondering whether they are doing enough, and those discerning a vocation or responding to a call to serve. It can leave us convinced that sooner or later we will be ‘found out’.

In a recent conversation on the Things I Wish I Knew podcast, Jesuit scholastic Angelo Jesus Canta reflected with honesty on his own experience of these feelings. His story offers a reminder that self-doubt is not a sign of weak faith. Rather, it can become a place where we encounter God's grace in unexpected ways.

Growing up in a Filipino American Catholic family in New Jersey, Angelo's faith was deeply woven into daily life. Church was not simply somewhere to attend on Sundays. It was a community where faith was lived together with family and friends. Like many young people, he imagined a future shaped by clear ambitions and expectations. A successful career seemed the obvious next step.

University became a turning point. At Loyola University Chicago, Angelo encountered the Jesuit tradition, and particularly Ignatian spirituality. As he began praying with the Spiritual Exercises and learning the practice of discernment, he found himself asking different questions. Rather than asking only what he wanted from life, he began asking where God was leading him.

Discernment, however, rarely removes uncertainty. If anything, it often asks us to live more honestly with it.

Angelo spoke candidly about the perfectionism that had shaped much of his life. Like many people who strive to do well, he assumed that mistakes were to be avoided at all costs. Success became closely tied to his sense of worth. When things did not go as planned, it was easy to question not simply what he had done, but who he was.

Those patterns did not disappear when he entered religious life. During his novitiate, while serving as a hospital chaplain during the Covid-19 pandemic, those feelings intensified. Faced with patients experiencing profound suffering and families living through grief, he questioned whether he had anything meaningful to offer. Who was he to accompany others through such moments? What if he said the wrong thing? What if – simply put – he was not enough?

Many of us know similar questions, even if the circumstances are different. We may wonder whether we are good enough for the work entrusted to us, capable enough to care for those we love, or faithful enough to serve God. These questions often arise not because we lack ability, but because we imagine that everyone else has greater confidence than we do.

One of the most striking moments in Angelo's story came through spiritual direction. His spiritual director gently challenged the assumption that God depends upon flawless people. The invitation was to recognise that God works through ordinary human beings with all their limitations, fears and imperfections.

This echoes a recurring theme throughout Scripture. Moses protested that he could not speak well enough. Jeremiah believed he was too young. Peter repeatedly misunderstood Jesus and failed him at the moment of greatest need. Yet none of these shortcomings prevented God from calling them. Their effectiveness rested not on perfection, but on God's faithfulness.

This perspective can reshape the way we understand our own limitations. Instead of seeing weakness as evidence that we are unsuited to the task before us, we might begin to ask how God is already present within it. Ignatian spirituality encourages precisely this kind of attention. Discernment is not about waiting until we feel completely certain or perfectly prepared. It is about noticing where God is at work in the reality of our lives today.

That does not mean ignoring our weaknesses or pretending that fear does not exist. Rather, it means refusing to let those fears have the final word. God's grace does not erase our humanity. It transforms it.

Community also has an important role to play. Left alone with our own thoughts, self-doubt can easily become distorted. Others often recognise gifts in us long before we can see them ourselves. Friends, mentors and spiritual directors help us distinguish between the voice of fear and the quieter voice of God, who calls us not because we are perfect but because we are loved.

Perhaps that is one of the deepest challenges posed by imposter syndrome. It tempts us to believe that our value depends on our performance. The Christian story tells us something different. Our identity begins not with what we achieve, but with the God who calls each of us by name.

When we begin from that place, we are freed to make mistakes, to keep learning and to trust that God's work is often accomplished through people who know both their gifts and their need for grace.

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