I had a disconcerting patch recently where I thought I'd lost all my skills. Suddenly I found myself asking questions and checking everything, even tiny details, because I was no longer certain what to do and I was fearful of making mistakes.
Initially I put it down as a loss of confidence and a dose of good old-fashioned imposter syndrome. But sometimes when this intense questioning and checking happens, it isn’t actually about a loss of confidence or skills, or poor judgement.
Sometimes that’s simply a recognition that the landscape and the map that
we thought were in operation are not those by which others around us are
operating. What we are doing as we question and check each tiny detail is mapping
a newly-encountered landscape.
We haven’t lost our confidence.
We aren’t deskilled.
We are simply mapping out a new territory, using the perceptions of those
around us and the skills and confidence we bring with us from navigating known
territories.
