Testify! Michelle says it. Imposter syndrome. “ I’m not good enough. Self doubt. Self hate in some cases. Why wasn’t I a man? What’s so special about him? I got harassed because I invited it. I’m being abused because I deserve it. I can’t guide another person because what do I know. I’m accountable for everything. My whole life is a test. I can’t cry when I’m drowning. I can’t ask for help. I’m nobody. He is everything that I am not. I have to fake it till I make it. And when I make it, I have to be sure that I make it more than he ever made it”.
Sound familiar, some of it?
One of the strongest women this century has seen tells us that she doubts herself everyday. Not because she is a nice, homely, humble, Southern girl but because she was made to feel not good enough. Not because she had to fight patriarchy to the go to the biggest learning institutions that there are but because she was told she isn’t good enough. Not because her life is defined by a president husband but because her outstanding success that she had achieved before even meeting him was instantly marred by his charisma and career. Not because she has seen intellectual men all her life (she herself says “ they’re not so smart” hahah) but because she has been faking to be smarter than dumb men all her life.
This is a woman who is idolized by millions. Is a kick ass dresser, a neat dancer, good looking and almost six feet tall. This woman has a career that puts many men to shame. This woman is power in one body. Here is a woman that you like despite your inner struggle with accepting a woman who isn’t from within you. She proves that she is you and me and all of us. And she says “ You do you and let them do them. There’s enough space in this playground for all of us”.
My mind as a woman 