72: Imposter Syndrome as a Nature-Based Therapist
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Therapy in the Great Outdoors, the podcast where we explore the business and practice of nature based pediatric therapy of all kinds. If you're an outdoor loving pediatric practitioner in the fields of occupational, physical, or speech therapy, social work, or mental health, this podcast will help you start and grow a successful nature based practice or program.
I am the ever honest, always a hundred percent real. You'll hear it all on this podcast. Dr. Laura Park Figueroa. I'm a pediatric OT with over 20 years of experience and I run a thriving nature based practice with profitable locations in two different states and multi six figures in revenue. I also host the free online community at therapyinthegreatoutdoors.
com to help you pursue your nature based therapy dreams too. Are you ready to take action on those dreams? Let's jump [00:01:00] in.
Hello friends. Welcome back to therapy in the great outdoors. I have a couple of announcements this week before we dive into our. Popular topic of imposter syndrome, imposter syndrome I feel like I started hearing this term pop up in conversations about. I don't know, five to seven years ago and it just has never quit.
So I want to, well, if you've never heard of it, I'll tell you what it is, but you probably have heard of it. We'll talk about what it is and some thoughts I have about it as well as how it kind of uniquely applies in nature-based pediatric therapy work that we all do to our work as nature-based pediatric therapists. The announcements though first.
So I should be really excited to tell you all this. But I am not, I am full of dread. My article, my journal article that I wrote from my dissertation research to [00:02:00] share the model that I developed in my dissertation research. Has finally been accepted for publication. It was tentatively accepted like six or eight months ago and we've gone through multiple rounds of revisions.
I. Almost gave up on this round. I was thinking, you know, if they come back to me and say more revisions are needed, I think I have to start over at a whole different journal. And. I was really r elieved, I guess is the right word to say. That they came back and said it will be going to publication. I think we did five rounds of edits.
But the reason that I don't feel excited about it and I feel full of dread about it is a little bit related to this topic of imposter syndrome and I'll talk more about this and give you guys some examples. As I go along and what I've outlined to kind of talk about in this episode, but I, I feel full of dread and fear to put it out there rather than feeling excited to share my work with the [00:03:00] world.
I think that part of that. Well, Why don't you just listen to hear why I'll share that in a bit. That'll keep you listening, right? If I tell you that I'm full of dread. And then we'll talk about it in a bit. I want to get through the other announcement first and then we'll dive in. So t he other announcement is that the nature based business retreat is happening November seven to 10.
This, this November, 2024. And I've been thinking a lot about the niche of nature-based therapy and. I may, you may have heard me say this before. If you're a listener to the podcast over, over time, like for the two years now, I've been doing this. but I feel like. A lot of nature based business owners kind of do this on the side.
Right? Very few nature-based businesses are really wildly successful and profitable. I want to tell you that yours can be, you can do this. There are proven ways to [00:04:00] run a successful nature based business. But there's a big, but here. You need community and accountability in order to be successful. And you need a plan for your year and for your quarters in order to really hit your goals and work on the right things in your business in order to bring about that success and that profitability. That is exactly what you will get at this retreat.
So I will not go into a whole long thing here, but you can, if you are interested and you're thinking that this might be the right time for you to start really investing in your business in making it a successful and profitable endeavor, rather than a side gig. Or if you're already running a successful business, of course you can come, go to. theapyinthegreatoutdoors.com/retreat.
And you can get all the information there. There's a long list of FAQ's. Oh, the other big announcement that I forgot about related to the retreat. Is that I have decided to give [00:05:00] certificates of completion for anyone who attends. So I started thinking about it and I realized that.
I wasn't going to give CE- like, uh, well, okay.
Let me be clear. I am not authorized to provide CEU's use through some organization. I do have approved provider status through AOTA for OT providers, and I have submitted the retreat to possibly. Have a AOTA approved CEU's use from AOTA. I will know about that in mid July. And the deadline to register is August 1st.
So you will have some time if that's, if that's a deal breaker for you, if you can't get CEU's and you're an OT, then you can wait until mid July to register. If there's still spots. Well, there's only 16 spots. So. I have to say, clearly I am not a, you know, I am not going to guarantee to you in any profession that you're in, that you would be able to use CEU's from this event, but I will provide a certificate of completion. Right now the [00:06:00] schedule has 17 and a half workshop content hours essentially. Now there's a lot more time at the retreat that we're going to have downtime and there will be very valuable conversations that happen in the downtime. I think that's one of the most valuable things about getting people together in person, is those organic conversations that happen over a meal or out on a hike or on a walk on the beach or, you know, just kind of after dinner, snacks, whatever, like there's, things that happen that you can't anticipate when you come to an in-person event that I think are very valuable.
However, the actual number of hours that we will be. Working in workshop or learning kind of formal formal form, I guess. I can't talk today. Y'all. Um, that will be 17 and a half hours, according to the current schedule that I have.
That may change a little bit as I adjust the schedule going forward, I have invited some mentors to [00:07:00] come to the, to help facilitate some sessions at the retreat and some small group discussions and some workshop times. So once I kind of have the team together in full, who is leading this with me, we might make some edits to the schedule to kind of add or remove an hour or two here or there.
So it's going to be about 17 hours. That you will get a certificate of completion for. So that is something else I needed to let you all know in case that that impacts whether or not you decide to come. So this is, I want to say an investment in your success of your business. You need to think of it that way.
You need to know that this is money you are investing and time that you are investing and making your business profitable and successful in the coming year. That the dividends that you get from investing in this experience will be tenfold. So. I am very competent in that. And I want you to think about this, like an investment.
This is not, it is a workation. I mean, it is a beautiful [00:08:00] facility. Uh, but I don't want you to think of this, like an optional thing that you'll do when your business is successful. It's actually successful business owners actually invest in their business at the right time. So it does need to be the right time for you to do it. But I, I want you to think about it like an investment, so, all right.
That was a longer announcement than I intended. Let's talk about imposter syndrome. So this week I'm going to. Kind of be sharing a little bit from the heart. Some things that I've been thinking about for a long time. I am feeling a little imposter because of that article coming out soon that from my dissertation research.
So I thought we could talk about it this week and I'm going to share some thoughts about imposter syndrome and when you might actually just be an imposter and it's not. The syndrome. So. That's an opinion that I have, that I will be sharing. According to. the AI definition of imposter syndrome. I pulled it straight from the Google search that came from like Wikipedia and [00:09:00] Google. , Imposter syndrome is defined as a psychological experience where someone doubts their abilities and accomplishments in comparison to others, despite evidence to the contrary. It can also be called impostor ism or imposter phenomenon. People with imposter syndrome may feel anxious like a fraud or phony and have difficulty realistically assessing their skills.
They may also attribute their success to external factors, overachieve or sabotage their own success. That doesn't really make sense to me, attribute success to. , external factors, overachieve. That doesn't make sense, but that is AI writing. So, you know, you can see that AI sometimes makes weird. Sentences too.
It's not perfect. Some common characteristics of imposter syndrome include this is still from Google perfectionism procrastination, project paralysis, people pleasing, fear of not meeting expectations. Or setting challenging goals and feeling disappointed when they fall short. [00:10:00] So I've experienced all of these things over the course of my career and my business ownership. But I do want to say, like, I will go ahead and say it.
There is such a thing as an imposter. If you don't actually have the expertise, there's no need to act like you do there. You're just a novice and that's okay. So I think we need to be doing a little bit more thinking around like, Actually checking in with ourselves and getting feedback from people that we trust, who will give us an honest opinion, right. Not not seeking the approval of like people on social media or whatever. But, but really asking yourself, maybe you are really an imposter, like. Like that is, that is a real. Situation that could, that could be out there, right?
Like you may be just don't know. And, and I just think that there's this, this tendency of all of us to think that we're imposters when really we're so great, but also that the flip side is true to [00:11:00] that. We need to, we need to give ourselves an honest assessment and really decide if we are novices and we shouldn't be putting ourselves out there as an expert in something.
Okay. So you'll hear me kind of talk about this a little bit today, as I share, as I share some examples to get with you all about my imposter feelings. So, okay. This topic came up for me for a couple of reasons, and I hope these stories I share. I've I've tried to give you some real clear takeaways once I share these stories, because I never want this podcast to be just me talking into a void.
I want to really seek to give you helpful information here. So. I decided to finally do this episode. About imposter syndrome because I got in a fight with my husband last weekend about. Keeping the windows open when it was 70 degrees outside. So it was a beautiful day. And my husband. Has a tendancy. To if it is. [00:12:00] Barely uncomfortable.
I mean, if it is like a tiny degree humid or if it is not. A cool breeze coming in from outside. He wants all the windows closed and the air conditioning on. And I would leave the windows open. Probably until it was close to like 85 degrees and. 90% humidity. Like even right now, actually, as I record, we don't have air conditioning right now in our house.
My husband's out of town today. He's lucky because it's going to be close to 90 and we don't have AC right now because of some work we're doing on our house. So. , I am. Warm right now, as I record this. But anyway, my husband, I digress. My husband and I got in this argument because he wanted to close the windows and it was like 70 degrees.
And I was like, it is beautiful outside. Like there's only a short window of time in Wisconsin when we can have our windows open and it can feel like California. So. Please keep the windows open. We got in this huge fight. I just gave up because, well, I gave up because [00:13:00] he had just gotten home from a really long drive. With my son, where he had been at a baseball tournament where he had been outside in 90 degree heat for like, we like a full week. And I gave in because I love him and I realized he just needed to be relaxed and comfortable, and I was able to go outside and be comfortable where I wanted to be outside.
So. I share this to say. You don't choose who you fall in love with. I fell in love with this man who is a urban, you know, he grew up in an urban area. And he, he just is not. An outdoorsy guy now. I. Would also add that he often says that he enjoys nature and other ways than I do, like he loves to golf and he thinks that's enjoying nature and I'm like, I don't think that's enjoying nature, but anyway, I'll get into that in a minute. So my point is.
I have always struggled with this extreme embarrassment. [00:14:00] Of my family and that my husband and I are not aligned on this. My husband and I are not aligned on. We always want to be outside. We always want to be camping. We always want to be doing outdoorsy things together. And yes, he goes on hikes with me and yes, he goes on, walks with me outside with the dog. And yes, we will go to the beach and yes, we do things outdoors, but. Let's be real.
If I die, my children are never going on another backpacking or camping trip. With their parents, like my husband would never ig- initiate a camping or backpacking trip. So, and I'm telling you, the older I get my back is like, yeah, backpacking might be in my past, but. We'll see, I'm planning a short backpacking trip with a friend this summer, so we'll see. If I, if I die on this trip, it might be the last one.
But. I've always been embarrassed of this and I'm sharing it publicly here because I want you to know that. You don't have to be [00:15:00] a. Perfect outdoorsy family in order to be a nature based therapist. I have always struggled with like insane jealousy of those families on Instagram that are all outdoors and they're traveling in a van and camping and they go on all these adventures, like yeah. But I just think this is something that I will grieve forever.
It's not going to change. Like you can't change your partner. And even your children, you can't change your children. If your children are kids who don't enjoy the outdoors. I think a lot of times as pediatric therapists, we think that kids. All enjoy the outdoors, but there are kids who aren't comfortable outdoors or don't want to play outdoors.
And so I think this like, I don't know. I think I'm just, I'm going on and on. I really do have an outline, but I'm going on and on, because the, the point is that.
Who is the judge of what an outdoorsy person is? What makes you an imposter? As a nature based therapist, quote unquote. Are you, Are, are you an [00:16:00] imposter? If you're a nature based therapist and you don't like to garden? Or you don't have a green thumb. Like. I don't and I feel kind of embarrassed about that sometimes. I feel like. I should be all into nature and all the ways.
And. All of this mess, all of these things I'm sharing here.
I intend to share them to remind you too. Give grace to yourself. And to accept others and yourself for wherever you are in your own appreciation of and connection to nature.
So. We need to remember that kids or families may not all enjoy nature the same way. So as nature-based therapists
We might have this imposter syndrome that we're not like hardcore nature based therapist. And I'm here to tell you, you don't have to be hardcore to be a nature-based therapist but I also think that process of thinking along those lines can encourage us to think about how can we foster nature connection [00:17:00] in different ways with different families.
How can we really accept families where they're at and bring nature to them? How can we encourage families to be who they are and to, and to Wade into an enjoyment of nature where they are comfortable.
I also just want to say you don't have to try to be someone else.
Just be yourself, just be yourself. I struggle with constantly thinking. I should be someone else or be like someone else, you know? And I think I'm preaching to myself here as much as I'm preaching to you all to say, You are unique, you are yourself and you don't have to change who you are in order to be a legit pediatric nature based therapist.
Okay. One strategy you can use before I get into my next little story. Is to remind yourself of the truth. So this is a little bit of cognitive behavioral therapy. Therapy. If you are familiar with kind of the,jist.Of CBT. But cognitive behavioral therapy focuses around this [00:18:00] idea of kind of identifying. Unhelpful beliefs that you may have and reframing those with accurate statements, replacing those thoughts with accurate statements.
So asking yourself if, what you're thinking about yourself, being an imposter is helpful or even true, because it, it may not be true. What you're thinking about yourself. And then replace those thoughts with accurate statements. So for me, When I really struggle with some of the things that I feel like an imposter in specifically with my research, which I'm going to talk about in a minute. I remind myself of an accurate statement such as I had a committee and they awarded me the PhD. So I must have done something that was valid enough to earn that degree.
Right. Even at the same time, I say that I feel total imposter syndrome about research and the research I just did. But. I do think the more that you do this, the more, um, you'll kind of remind yourself of what the truth is versus what your feelings are. I say this a lot too. Like our feelings are not always the whole story.
They're never the whole story [00:19:00] really. So reminding yourself of things that are accurate statements about. What, you know, and maybe what you don't know and be honest about, about who you are. So, okay. The second reason that I did this, little episode on feeling jmpostery is because. I mentioned already.
I worry that I did my research all wrong. So I've really struggled, , with feeling the dread of this article coming out because. I am very worried that I missed something huge or that I did something wrong or that I got something. Completely off base in the research and. I did have a committee. Who, when you get a PhD, you have a committee of people who you're doing 95% of the work. I might even dare to say 99% of the work.
I would say that I would say I did 99% of the work for my, for my PhD. , but the committee [00:20:00] looks over things, you know, like reads what you've written, helps you with questions in the process and things like that. So, My committee assures me that I did find that I did accurate research, but I still feel so insecure about it. And this is an example of a situation where I'm just a novice here I am a novice researcher.
I'm a brand new, this is the first study I've ever published. And. It might be the only one you all because, oh my gosh. After this, I'm not sure I want to do it again, but if you're listening to this and you want to do research and you want to head up the research, but I could like help I'd maybe be willing to do that, but I don't know if I'm going to be like first author in any research after this.
I'm. I need a break. I'm I'm just so tired of the whole process. It's been, I started the, I started a PhD in 2018. It's been six years. So I'm, I'm. Done for now. I'm going to take a break of [00:21:00] from writing for publication after this. So I am a novice researcher and I worry that I was biased in some way that I couldn't see, even though I checked for biases and I had all these checks in place and the journaling that I did, I did qualitative research.
So it's hard. To. Not be, I think every everybody's biased really. So it's hard to like set those biases aside and really be clear minded. When you look at the data. , I'm scared to put this out there and I'm scared to be subject to criticism from the academic community because I feel. I feel a little bit at odds with the academic community.
I'm actually going to record a podcast for next week about evidence-based practice. And you'll hear some of my thoughts on that there, but. Yeah, but in a nutshell, I feel like a lot of times the things academics think don't translate to real practice. So anyways, I think the thing that is helping me and that could maybe help you, if you feel these.
Imposters feelings is [00:22:00] to remember that mantra that I share often about marketing, which is nobody cares about you. They care about themselves. . So I know it's so harsh to say that it sounds so. Mean, and like a pediatric therapist should never say something that mean. Right. But I don't mean it. I say it with all love in my heart for all of y'all and for myself too.
But it is helpful to remind yourself of that, that people ultimately are concerned with their own lives and their own world and their own things that are impacting them. So. They're not. Most people are not going to be reading something you wrote or for y'all with your businesses, looking at your business with a critical eye. There, they're not going to be trying to criticize and find things wrong with it.
And so. for me with this issue, or I'm feeling insecure about my research article coming out, I'm trying to lean into this idea, that one, I had support doing [00:23:00] it again, cognitive behavioral therapy here. Y'all like reminding myself of the truth. I had support while I was doing it. It's gone through a peer review process, which was. Exhausting and, And it's, it is what it is, right.
It's going to be out there. And I only did the best that I can. And so, I couldn't, I couldn't do anything different. I don't think than I did. The takeaway for y'all from this. Pontificating that I'm doing here is that maybe you will do things wrong. All you can do is the best you can do at that given moment.
And it doesn't mean that you're an imposter necessarily again. Try to have an accurate assessment of whether you're an imposter or just a novice. It doesn't mean you're an imposter necessarily, but it means you're learning and you're growing. So when you are. Uh, feeling like an imposter. It is, it is better to put new ideas out there and share your work and take the risk because it's the only way that you learn and grow and change.
And it's the only [00:24:00] way to become an expert in something really is to take those risks and. I put those ideas out there and test things and, and not be afraid. When you aren't sure. So lean into the uncertainty, lean into taking the risks. I hope there was something of value in this episode for you. I feel. A little bit of nervousness because it was a little bit more vulnerable of an episode than I typically share. But I have been thinking about this for a long time and I hope that it can encourage. Someone out there that you can go for it.
You don't have to be. Some crazy naturalist knows everything about nature person to be a great nature-based pediatric therapist. And also you don't have to know everything. You can take risks and make mistakes and learn from that. And. Yeah, that's it. I didn't have any. Fancy way to end this one. So I guess I'm just going to say. Check out the [00:25:00] retreat therapy in the great outdoors.com backslash retreat. And come hang out with me in the redwoods by the ocean in November.
All right, I'll talk to you next week. Bye.
Wait a second. Don't go yet. Do you want 120 ways that you can take your pediatric therapy work outdoors into nature? I wrote the free, big, huge list of nature based therapy activities just for you. The Big Huge List will give you quick ideas for nature based sessions. In the Big Huge List, there are activities for gross motor, fine motor, visual perceptual, executive function, balance, group collaboration, and team building, social, emotional, and self regulation skills, as well as speech and language, and a whole section just for swing activities.
So go on and get your free Big Huge List so you can get started taking kids outdoors or have some new ideas if you've been doing this a while. You can download your free copy at therapyinthegreatoutdoors. com slash list. So until next [00:26:00] time, get outside, connect, reflect, and enjoy therapy in the great outdoors.
