Have you heard the one about the cat with the toast?
Actually, it’s not really a joke.
It’s a play on two “facts of life”: that, when dropped, a cat will always land on its feet, and a slice of buttered toast will inevitably land butter-side-down. Thus, the question: suppose a slice of buttered toast is buckled to a cat’s back: which way up will the cat with the toast land? Feet first, or butter-side down?
My brain feels like that.
And, as with the cat and the toast, it’s a “fact of life” and there’s no good reason for it.
I’ve been seeing a psychologist weekly now for two years, and my brain never ceases to amaze me (sarcastically, and really). Sometimes I feel like the progress I make is glacial, other times I feel like I’ve made an instant revelation.
This week’s revelation came from watching Heidi Grant Halvorson explaining Be Good mindset and comparing that with my own feelings of office pressure: imposter syndrome. Like the cat with the buttered toast on its back, I feel like I’m journeying on a moebius strip through my (work) life. The imposter syndrome keeps my feet too firmly grounded, and the Be Good that I learned means that I always have to do better: the combination rotating to propel me towards undoubted “success”.
What I’d love for my own success is to unbuckle the cat.
And maybe eat the toast.
