Madison Task

My five personality traits are Restorative, Input, Empathy, Activator, and Relator, but my close friends and family all agree my most prevalent trait is empathy. I'm a go-to for advice and an opportunity to vent. A couple of my friends have joked about how I'm "Madi who can't get mad at anyone and no one can do anything wrong in my eyes" which is pretty accurate. I think this is due to the fact that I can see both sides of an argument, plus three more, and I'm grateful to have that ability. I can put ideas and feelings into words that others can't, but have tried to describe to me before. It makes them feel understood and connected when I expand on what they shared with me, not just regurgitating it, and I get a lot of YES! YOU get me!'s. I also love writing songs, sometimes about my own life and sometimes about my friends'. Nothing means more to me than when they reply after I've sent the lyrics and audio and they say "I'm listening to this a hundred times until I feel better" or "you nailed it". I can help tutor or study with friends and describe concepts or algorithms in three different ways until we find the way that clicks for them. Some of my closest friends think I should be a teacher, but one thinks I'd feel too confined in a classroom.

I think the "Letter to Myself" I wrote at the beginning of the semester will serve as a piece of motivation all throughout my college experience. It's full of my typical optimism and specific dreams (join musical and performance-related groups, stay nutritionally and physically healthy, and flourish academically) that have faltered a little over the past few months, but reading it again is nice to fall back on. It will always inspire me, and because I tend to do things for people rather than for myself, the fact that it's a letter FROM me TO me will give me reason enough to work FOR me. I sound desperate and persuasive enough in it.

My "Dream Job Description" will constantly remind me of my end goal, one without a clear path. The better I can describe this, the more people at Ohio State can help me get there and set appropriate expectations for me. I want to do something where I can personally work with people and impact large numbers of them; I want to make the world (or at least the country) a healthier place. Having a clear light at the end of the tunnel will make finding the steps to get there easier.