Surgeons aren’t taught to talk about anxiety; we’re taught to suppress it. Yet anxiety, when understood, can become one of our greatest teachers. In this essay, Dr. Mel Thacker explores the difference between fear and anxiety, why imagined danger feels as real as a carotid bleed, and how to ground yourself in curiosity and presence when the mind spins out of control. Anxiety doesn’t make you weak; it makes you human. And when you learn to work with it, it can make you an extraordinary surgeon.

This essay explores imposter syndrome through the lens of surgical culture and perfectionism, showing how high-achieving physicians internalize self-doubt despite clear evidence of competence. It traces the origins of these beliefs to early conditioning and systemic pressures that tie worth to performance, then explains how the subconscious mind reinforces familiar (but false) stories of inadequacy. Using vivid surgical examples, it illustrates how fear of failure leads to avoidance, overcaution, and inefficiency, and offers a four-step cognitive process to rewire these thought patterns: identify the limiting belief, examine its opposite, find evidence for the new belief, and practice it until it becomes automatic. Ultimately, it reframes imposter syndrome as a thought error rather than a character flaw, which can be dismantled through awareness, deliberate thinking, and self-compassion.