One of my fondest memories of spring as a kid is watching the winter snow begin to melt and hunting for pussy willows.

My brother & I knew the places to tromp through the woods to find the best pussy willow bushes and, each spring as the snow melted & formed muddy ground, we'd don our boots and go in search of those wonderful plants.

The pussy willow is actually a scrubby willow bushy type of plant and those small, silky buds are actually flowers before they bloom.  Those flowers are called catkins.
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Catkins usually don’t rely on pollinators to spread their pollen. Instead they simply release their pollen into the wind, where it may or may not land on the female flower parts. In order to hit their targets, the catkins must produce a tremendous amount of pollen.

Have you ever accomplished something that took a lot of effort and made you feel proud, but you still felt less than confident about yourself in general?

In psychology, this feeling that we don’t really deserve what we’ve earned is described as the Impostor Syndrome.

No matter how much you accomplish or acquire, it won’t satisfy you unless you have self-confidence on the inside.

True self-confidence has nothing to do with what you’ve accomplished and everything to do with your belief that you have the ability to accomplish anything you want to do.
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Your confidence is based on who you are, not what you did. No one or no adverse outcome can take that away from you. It makes sense, doesn’t it?

Have you heard of the term a fake? That's what Impostor Syndrome refers to. It's the feeling that no matter what you do, you are inadequate or incompetent despite that you are knowledgeable, skilled, and successful. ​

Impostor Syndrome, also known as Impostor Phenomenon, knows no particular boundaries -- it happens to men and women, in different cultures, with different upbringings.

These feelings stem from your background, your personality, and your life's circumstances. It's a combination of these that often bring on a lack of confidence.

The way to overcome that is to begin with accepting who you are and embracing your uniqueness.

We all have something very special to offer and, once you internalize this, it is just the beginning of a new way of kicking that impostor syndrome to the curb.