Jonah Lehrer’s is the new Malcolm Gladwell - super trendy pop science writer. Basically, a writing version of Jad from Radiolab. His newest book is, Imagine: How Creativity Works. Lehrer tries to demystify creativity, and splits the book in half explaining personal and group creativity. I loved the personal creativity part, a lot of ideas about how to have better ideas. It didn’t have a whole lot of ideas that felt new, but it’s always fun to read something that reasserts your own beliefs. Overall, it’s a great lay science read – definitely recommend.
One point that touched close to home was the impact of moving on creativity. He highlighted David Byrne of the Talking Heads, who loved New York City because he could bike from Latin jazz club, to Nigerian music hall, to punk rock show. He eventually fused all of it to create the unique sound of the Talking Heads. New places give you a different taste of life.
Each stop I’ve made has introduced me to new people and challenged my endless philosophizing. But then, why don’t more people move? Why do Williams alums flock to Boston? Why is there a Kenyon bar in DC?
Well, the awkward pre-M1 MD/PhD summer is a great example of why most people stay put. Sidenote – M1 stands for med school year 1, M3 is med school year 3, etc.
As an MD/PhD student, I have the privilege? responsibility? of arriving early to start a summer rotation in a possible PhD lab. It would’ve been great to spend one last beautiful Portland summer with my friends, but here I am in the Charleston library. None of my classmates are here yet. The other MD/PhD students will be here in June or July, and my MD classmates won’t be here until August. I’m counting on school for about 80 - 90% of my community, so until then, I’m mostly hanging out with me.
During the days, the lab keeps me busy. I'm in f-you-mode trying to carve out a potential PhD project. My goal is to get out in 6 years, below the average of 7.7 years, so I’m not planning on spending too much time at the bottom half of the learning curve.
As an introvert it’s nice to have nights to myself, but it also gets boring. The time I would have spent at happy hour with my friends or chatting with my wife is now spent watching Scrubs or surfing the internet. I should probably read or write.. but I just don’t have the mental energy.
Times like these I get why you wouldn’t leave your comfort zone – your old friends and routines. I know it’s just a temporary summer, so I’m ignoring it and forging through, but still..
See you on the other side,
from ken
Feel free to comment! I would love to hear your thoughts.
A good friend of mine once told me "It's hard venturing into new adventures..." (that would be you) but one thing I've always admired about you is your ability to greet new possibilities, no matter how daunting, with tenacity, eyes wide open and knowing how to appreciate the joy of life in the present without dwelling on the past. Hang in there, buddy, Katie will be there soon to give new dimension to the spaces of boredom.
ReplyDeleteThanks Barry! I appreciate the encouragement, and I hope your new adventures are progressing.
ReplyDeletefrom ken