Has anyone had imposter syndrome since returning to work after maternity leave?

Since I have been back at work I have been doubting my ability to do my job. Its not because, its particularly difficult its more that I've returned to my role after having so much time off. I've been back for 4 months now & thought that I'd have felt okay by now. Has anyone else experienced this? How did you overcome it? Thank You for reading.
Like
Share Mobile
Share
  • Share

Show your support

YES. And between all the at home tasks - chores, phone calls, bills, appointments, I feel so forgetful at work. Simple tasks such as communication has become much harder for me. I feel like I can’t explain/ present things as effortlessly as I used to.

I felt the same and I went back part time so it was even harder adjusting since I never fully got used to it. 8 months later I found out I was pregnant again so things kind of went even more downhill at work from there. A few of my colleague said it took them at least 1 full year to get used to working again. Sorry no advice but in my workplace it was a pretty common experience because we had 5 pregnant/ mat leave women in our department within 2 years lol.

Yes. It took me more than a year to feel even slightly normal, and I never got back to feeling like I was doing well or making valid contributions, before I was off on matl again. Gone are the days of working til 8pm to finish a paper if I want, chasing a bonus or overdelivering 🤷🏼‍♀️ I was shocked at how difficult it all felt, and I'm doing it all over again in 3 weeks 😱

I feel like I don't belong anymore. I had 14 months off work for maternity as they couldn't offer me part time when I was actually due back. I'm a teacher and I've returned as part time supply at my school so I don't have my own class, or classroom etc. I'm also teaching year groups I've not taught in about 8 years so work is taking a bit of getting used to. I also have break times at different times to my previous year group so I never really get to chat to them anymore. I kind of feel a bit lost.

I started a new job and felt brain dead. Like it was so much harder after having a babies and being away from work for so long. I literally forgot how to say words that I knew how to say before. I’ve been back to work for 8 months now and still feel some days it’s hard to focus.

I'm dreading it

@Violeta💕 sending hugs, what are you dreading?

@Sabra I feel this!

Thank you for all sharing your experiences.

I have been off for nearly a year now and I feel the exact same!!!! I’m dreading going back for a number of reasons but the big one for me if feeling like I won’t be able to manage I have really bad baby brain still

Read more on Peanut