My 4 Month Hiatus - Where have I been (literally)?

Welcome Back - to both myself and you!

I know, it’s been a while. I truly didn’t realize how long until people around me started asking why I hadn’t posted. I had no idea so many people were keeping up — THANK YOU!

So let’s talk about where I’ve been (both literally and mentally). Since my last post in April, I’ve been to West Texas for a week (living out my ranch-girl dreams), San Antonio for a week, San Diego for a little over a week, Georgia for a weekend, France, Italy, and Monaco for another 10 days. This month, I’m heading to Seattle for a week, Minneapolis for a weekend, and next month, Hawaii (I think that’s it?). Oh — and Houston for a weekend or two sprinkled in for weddings. Physically, I’ve been everywhere. Mentally, though, I’ve been consumed by the CPA Exam. We’ll get to that later, but first, let’s start with my insane travel schedule and the question I get most: “How do you work?”

I’m very fortunate to have a job that 1) offers unlimited PTO and incredible holiday breaks, and 2) allows me to travel for parts of my role. From a very young age, my parents instilled in my siblings and me the value of travel — not just vacation, but travel. Yes, there’s a difference. To our family, vacation means unplugging and going somewhere you want to relax. Travel is about experiencing: trying new cuisines, wearing clothing to understand its cultural or religious significance, practicing another language, or staying in the homes of locals instead of hotels. Because of that mindset, I’m now a dual citizen, and I’ll never pass up the chance to go somewhere new. (If you have recommendations for any of the places I mentioned — or anywhere else — I’d love to hear them!)

I have never understood more until now when others have said “time flies” until I started working full-time. It is true, the days are long, the weeks are “shorter”, but the months? years? are so. short. In ten days, I will celebrate my one year anniversary at work. I have achieved so much and so little in that time, but many things I am very proud of such as my CPA journey, a journey that is still journey-ing. On my last night in Paris, August 25th, I found out I passed my second section of the CPA. For those unfamiliar, there are four sections, and so far I’ve passed Audit and Financial Accounting & Reporting (FAR).

This has been no easy journey, in fact, it is the hardest thing I have done so far. I know for others it may not be “that bad”, and I envy you. I have never been a great test-taker, and I experience the worst test anxiety. Regardless, my journey started last September when I took Audit for the first time, and failed. FAILED. I was done. I stopped studying and convinced myself that I was not cut-out for accounting. In other words, I let one test determine that it was smarter and more determined than I was. Then, on a two-week trip to Charleston in March, I had time to reflect on what I really wanted for my career. The CPA was something I had always pushed away, but it kept resurfacing. That’s when I decided to give myself 30 days — 30 days to give the exam everything I had. At least then I could say I didn’t quit after one failure. After all, anyone can do anything for 30 days

Fast forward to May: I retook Audit and passed. I was speechless and so proud. I stared at the screen for a solid two minutes just to make sure it was real. That same weekend, I committed to tackling the hardest section next. I sacrificed nearly my entire summer to study. And, as you know by now, I passed!

I had a village behind me — prayers, encouragement, and kind words from the people who matter most. They knew what it looked like behind the scenes to study for the CPA while working full-time. So let me share a glimpse of what that looked like.

On work-from-home days, I woke up at 4:50 a.m. and studied from around 5:15am until 8:15am. Then I worked 8:30am–5:00pm. Some evenings I fit in a workout, ate dinner, and studied late into the night. Other days, I skipped the workout, ate dinner in front of my computer, and kept studying. On office days, I “slept in” until 5:30 a.m., went to a 6:00am workout, arrived at the office around 7:30am, and worked until 4:30 or 5:00. That evening I studied for another three hours into the night. That was five days a week, plus at least four study hours each weekend day. Eight weeks straight.It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it when I saw “PASSED” on score release day. The biggest lesson? Discipline. It’s easy to celebrate the glamorous parts of a career or the success of passing exams, but the sacrifices behind them are often overlooked (unless you’re in the trenches doing the same thing). Those sacrifices deserve to be celebrated too. If you know someone balancing full-time work while studying for a certification, managing kids or a home, or even juggling two careers, take a moment to tell them you’re proud of them. It truly means the world and like I said, it takes a village.

This week, I begin studying for my third section of the exam. 8 weeks. All words encouragement/advice are welcome.

I’ll post again between now and my exam date - about all of my travels thus far, and all of the wonderful things I have done and people I have met. You guys rock - until the next!