Vertigo is experienced when your body can’t align what your eyes see with what your brain feels. Sound familiar? It’s probably because you’ve experienced vertigo, just mentally.
Part 1: When the Ground Tilts
How? Well before I explain, let’s discuss vertigo.
Vertigo is a specific type of dizziness characterized by a sensation of motion—typically, a rotational sense of motion. It is caused by a dysfunction in the vestibular system, which is the sensory system in our bodies that creates the sense of balance and spatial orientation. This flaw typically either originates from an abnormality in the inner ear or in the brain.
Most importantly, though, the primary symptoms of vertigo are the sensation that you are falling when you are still and the sensation that your surroundings are spinning around you.
Vertigo is not just general, harmless dizziness. It consists of intense attacks that come and go, that can be triggered even by a slight shift in position, and that can lead to falls resulting in injury, unconsciousness, or broken bones.
Now, returning to the opening paragraph, what I mean by mental vertigo is self-doubt— in the context of an overachiever, negative feelings of uncertainty despite clear evidence supporting a positive conclusion.
Self-doubt is very closely associated with imposter syndrome; you might have experienced it when you spoke in a meeting or class then replayed your words on loop, convinced you said something wrong. Or when you got a good grade on your test and immediately wondered if you just got lucky.
So…how is this related to vertigo? Think about standing up too fast and experiencing an intense version of dizziness (vertigo). The world tilts, but not because it’s actually moving. Rather, because the vestibular system misfires messages to the brain.
That’s what self-doubt is: One moment, you know exactly who you are and what you’re capable of accomplishing. The next, everything tilts, and suddenly you’re questioning your own footing.
You might also think self-doubt somehow humbles you.
But most of the time, self doubt only distorts your sense of direction until you can’t tell the difference between reflection and self-erasure.
That’s the trap for most overachievers like you: mistaking spinning for stability and, consequently, multiplying the effect of your mental vertigo tenfold…
To be continued :)
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