Saturday, June 26, 2010
I'm sitting here in Barnes and Noble, with a cup of ice formerly known as an iced mocha, trying to accomplish just two simple things. I need to write my CV and personal statement for my residency application. Seems simple enough... False.
To Do:
CV (I crossed half of it out because I made some progress, but it's far from done)
Personal statement
Other stuff that may or may not have been done:
Book campsite in outer banks
Read old emails that are funny
Listen to the entire best of Snow Patrol album
Send useless, yet entertaining, emails
Drink my mocha
Look for a bike chain
Look for work shoes
Plan my tomorrow
Twiddle my thumbs (yes, I actually did this)
Clearly, I have not accomplished what I set out to do. But here's the problem. To write, I need something to motivate me. The last time I wrote a personal statement, it was for my medical school application. I set a deadline to have the whole application done before I went to southern Africa so I wouldn't have to worry about it when I got back. And try as I might, I just couldn't find anything good to write about and didn't get it done. But then, on the plane during one of our flights around the country, I had a brilliant idea and wrote the whole thing in a couple days. How could one not be inspired by little kiddos like this one? Sadly, I don't have any inspirational trips coming down the pipeline, and the prospects of spontaneous motivation are dim. It's not that I don't have interesting or unique things to write about. I've considered writing about my time on the border in Arizona, or my time at camp in Massachusetts, or my trip around the country, or how I drifted from wanting to do orthopedic surgery to primary care sports medicine. They are all good, workable foundations for a personal statement. But I'm just not INSPIRED. I do good work when I'm inspired. But it I try to force it, my personal statement will come out sounding like the abstract to the world's most boring Journal of Plant Science article.
To Do:
Personal statement
Other stuff that may or may not have been done:
Clearly, I have not accomplished what I set out to do. But here's the problem. To write, I need something to motivate me. The last time I wrote a personal statement, it was for my medical school application. I set a deadline to have the whole application done before I went to southern Africa so I wouldn't have to worry about it when I got back. And try as I might, I just couldn't find anything good to write about and didn't get it done. But then, on the plane during one of our flights around the country, I had a brilliant idea and wrote the whole thing in a couple days. How could one not be inspired by little kiddos like this one? Sadly, I don't have any inspirational trips coming down the pipeline, and the prospects of spontaneous motivation are dim. It's not that I don't have interesting or unique things to write about. I've considered writing about my time on the border in Arizona, or my time at camp in Massachusetts, or my trip around the country, or how I drifted from wanting to do orthopedic surgery to primary care sports medicine. They are all good, workable foundations for a personal statement. But I'm just not INSPIRED. I do good work when I'm inspired. But it I try to force it, my personal statement will come out sounding like the abstract to the world's most boring Journal of Plant Science article. So, what can I do to inspire myself??? I'm thinking of going back through my old applications and seeing if I can feed off that at all... not subject matter, just excitement and motivation. I'm thinking of going for a run, because it's not 95 degrees outside right now, and maybe it'll help. I'm thinking of listening to the Wicked sound track over and over and over again... mostly because it's fun to sing out loud. Does anyone have more useful suggestions for how I can get from online shopping to awe-inspiring prose writing that will make me the most wanted family medicine residency application in the world?? I would love to hear it if you do... because I got nothing.
Now, I will search for motivation in a turkey and cheese sandwich with strawberries and milk. I'm thinking I'm going to find it in the milk.
Searching for inspiration,
Kari
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