When I first read this prompt, I must admit to having a little confusion. To me, a pretender is a fake. But, I dug a little deeper and clicked on the links to other folks’ take on this prompt and I started to understand, I think. I got to thinking about my talents as a child and growing up, the ones that came easily without too much practise, which I think were inherited talents in a way, and did I live up to those inherited talents? Such as my ability to create, whether it be art or sewing or needlework or even cake decorating, gardening and cooking. Because I tended towards introversion, things like great speeches and leadership seemed beyond my capabilities at that time, though, in reality, they were not.
But then, I dug a little deeper and clicked on the link provided. This link takes us to a Wikipedia article discussion about a psychological classification called Imposter Syndrome. After reading that discussion, I see a different train of thought. According to the psychological field, there are a group of men or women who are high achievers in the academic and business world who do not see themselves as having achieved anything at all and they consider themselves imposters. They poo poo their abilities. I’m not sure I could put myself in that classification. If anything, I can honestly say I don’t live up to my potential at times, yes, and sometimes I do, but I also don’t worry about it too much. Years of day in and day out going to work, coming home, going to work the next day can nearly drive the creativeness out of a person. Hence, my recent burst of creative pursuits have made my days so much richer now.
Photo credit: manitou2121 / Foter / CC BY
When I was younger, I had dreams and aspirations. Some of which came to pass, some of which did not. And my younger self probably was disappointed at times in the turn out and elated when success was attained. Not sure I pretended to be anything but myself.
One thing that bothered me in the past, since I was such a creative soul, was when I was working on a project, some people would exclaim that they were disgusted with me that I could be so creative and they could never accomplish so much. To me, they were the great pretenders, because I knew they were fully capable of great things themselves.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/prompt-the-great-pretender/
Serendipitous Cookery 