Selfishness: Why I Blog

To be honest, I started this blog at the suggestion of a friend as a way to raise interest in (and sales of) a book I had edited (Heart of a Lion, Hands of a Woman: What Women Neurosurgeons Do).  As best I can tell, the site has been pitiful in this regard.  So why did I continue? Part of the answer is that I can't stand GIVING UP (not a neurosurgeon's nature) so I wanted to figure out how to "succeed."  So I did a little studying (of other blogs), I asked questions and I set my own goals.  Perhaps I also saw the blog like the journal I kept for many years-though a blog is obviously more public.  Another motivation may have been that I have been told many times that we, as physicians, have so many poignant stories to share about our patients (all which we swear we will remember until retirement when we have the time to properly record them).
I have come to realize that blogging forces me to filter everything I do through a different, noncomplacent lens.  Now as I pass my day as a physician, citizen, parent, child, wife I find infinite connections to write about.  It forces me to SEE my patients-their lives, their struggles, their grief through an entirely new filter-and I really think it has made me a better physician and person.

Looking at my statistics (yes, I just figured out how to do this) I am humbled and amazed in some months this blog has more than 500 views! The map view shows visitors from four continents and always the surprise at what brings the most viewers to this space.  
Many of life's journeys start on one road and detour to another.  I searched for a way to bring the outstanding and deserving voices of women neurosurgeons  to a wider audience and found a new vehicle for inner discovery.  Thanks for all those who join me (past and future) on this wild ride.