As the thread starter, I'll start this off...
First, I just gave notice to remove myself from my comfortable, well paying former career job because it provided no excitement, motivation, or means to succeed as a doctor.
Second, I accepted a position as a wildland firefighter, which is what I did to put myself through undergrad. It was something I developed a strong passion for, and since leaving, a yearning to return to. It will also put me in stellar physical shape, allow me to save a significant amount of money to fund my post-bacc, and also afford me some time to travel between lay-off in the fall and the start of school the following semester.
Finally, travel. I've been dreaming of a South America trek for years; backpacking, bussing, training it from Colombia to Patagonia, summitting the highest mountain in each country I visit along the way. I'll also be volunteering in communities and clinics to get a real account of the culture and aid in my building an intriguing application.
Aside from that, complete my post-bacc with a 4.0, rack-up 300 or more volunteer hours with the Disabled Sports adaptive ski program and VA hospital, and then... get accepted.
Wow, surprisingly great to see this thread resurface and still alive... Not long after it started I shipped off to fight wildfire with a hotshot crew, leaving it in the dust with a lack of steady internet connection.
As per the goals above...
After two seasons fighting fire with a Forest Service hotshot crew, I checked off the first and moved beyond the second. I had resigned from my former company with their support and good graces and joined the Tahoe Hotshots. The firefighting experience changed my entire physique from an office slouch to a broad shouldered, tall standing, toe running beast of the woods. It was tough, really tough. In some of those hardest moments on the fireline while getting dizzy spells from heat exhaustion, being completely out of water with hours left in the shift, the simple words "mental fortitude" repeated to myself kept my body driving when it wanted to seize up and shrivel into a the fetal position under a shade tree. Those two words had a much bigger meaning than just getting through the day's assignment, but registered everything I expected myself to accomplish through the coming years while on this adventure and in the medical career.
During the winter break between the end of fire season and the start of spring semester, I set off to South America landing in Cartagena, Colombia. I started the trip solo and met many friends and travel companions along the way. I had given myself only two months to reach Santiago, Chile, but right before the two month mark just after visiting Machu Picchu, I extended my trip an additional 3 months as many circumstances had changed back home. This meant I wouldn't be back in school that semester, but I would be able to complete the adventure (with enough time) that I had planned for so long. I reversed my course over 36 hours by bus back into a small coastal town called Olon, Ecuador, where I had heard of an orphanage always seeking help from travelers. I walked through the gates of the orphanage, and after a very quick discussion, was asked to join them for as long as I could stay, mentoring, teaching, and caring for five young boys. I taught them to surf, how to read at least five words in english, how to use a professional camera, and how to share and take turns with whatever one object we were using that day. After a month volunteering at the orphanage, surfing every sunrise and working at a beachside bar with a sand floor in front of one of the most scenic sunsets over a world class point break, I hit the road again heading south for Patagonia. I rode a ferry through the Fjords of Patagonia to Puerto Natales, Chile, and hiked an eight day trek around the 93 mile circuit of Torres del Paine. I rode a bus another 24 hours north into Cerro Torre National Park in Argentina, home to the infamous mountain climb Fitz Roy, ate the most incredible steak. I found a crossable mountain pass and raced an oncoming snowstorm in a trek over the Andes from Argentina back into Chile. After arriving in Chile, I began regaining the 20 pounds I had lost over the course of the 5 month adventure, before I returned to fire season desperately needing the muscle mass.
During the next fire season I met a girl that I thought I might one day make my wife, and with the thought of building for a family, tried one more shot at the environmental career. I started an environmental consulting company providing stormwater planning and experienced tremendous, almost unexpected success, but confirmed what I already knew that the life behind a desk writing environmental plans for corporate projects was not where my heart was. A year later with a handful of contracts still on the books, I returned to school, have had my residency reclassification approved for in-state tuition and medical school consideration, and will be application ready by June.
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