Why Do We Find it So Hard to Write About Ourselves?

Throes of Creation by Leonid Pasternak. Wikimedia Commons

For many students right now, an overwhelming mountain stands between them and the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. In this case, I’m not talking about Christmas—rather, I’m referring to the end of the Application Season.

Across the country, high school and college students are feverishly applying to institutions of higher education—doling out, on average, nine applications each. In order to afford the inevitable financial burdens to come, many are also toiling over scholarship applications in parallel. With competition for college admission at an all-time high, surely the perfect personal statement will make students stand out among their straight-A counterparts with glowing teacher recommendations.

But students aren't the only ones to bear the burden of seemingly endless applications; after all, the job market is tough too. More often than not, career-seekers find themselves face-to-face with blank computer screens in an attempt to pen one short masterpiece: the dreaded cover letter.

We’re experts on ourselves. So why do we find it so difficult to write about ourselves?