I generally don’t toot my own horn very much. It’s a personal failing, generally, in a world that often rewards the most visible and the loudest. Perhaps for that reason alone, that I don’t frequently speak about the myriad things I’m doing, I often don’t have a concept of what I’ve actually done. This situation puts me in an interesting position: I’m always doing new things but never reflecting on what I’ve done.
Truth be told, this blog somewhat fills that gap for me. The opportunity to write on a subject, drawing inspiration from my own life, serves the purpose of reflection somewhat like a personal journal might. The difference, generally, is that personal journal entries don’t need to necessarily “mean” anything. All of my posts here (I hope) share something of particular interest or importance. I doubt very much that my personal journal entries (if I kept such a thing) would be interesting to anyone but me. Reflection, however, is important.
Recently I’ve had the task of updating my Curriculum vitae for the purposes of applying for a scholarship. A CV (for short) is basically a longer and more detailed resume. It isn’t supposed to be just contain the most recent or most relevant, but literally contain everything you’ve done. While I’ve been spending time updating this document I’ve realized how much I’ve actually done. In a weird way, it feels like a giant sense of accomplishment on paper. While the resumes I used to put together in the past for jobs didn’t really seem all that important or meaningful, my CV really is a chronicle of my working life as a student and (hopefully) future professor. If you’re feeling a little down or a little out of it as the semester comes to an end you might consider reflecting for a bit (actually write down) on all of the things you’ve done this past year. It will probably add up to more than you think. It also helps you define future goals. Press on!