So remember when we were studying, springtime would blossom and we’d be looking out our windows hearing the birds chirp and the kids playing outside. We’d spend the whole spring pasty-white, sitting on our butts, noses buried in books. Andy Holmes and CFA Magician 2000 were our best friend in the world…
Until we passed Level 3.
Then springtime rolled around again and we felt this yearning for something that was missing in life, right? Anyone else have this happen to them T+1? And if so, what did you do to fill the void?–CPA, Law School, extramarital affair, Pokemon Go?
S2000, do you hit the search window for asterisk wildcard variants of your name several times a day across all posts?
Moving on to the OP’s question, you miss prep because you are the type of person who lives the fullest in a constant state of becoming, rather than believe in the false carrot of the myth of “arriving” at some hypothesized destination. I suspect that for most on this forum (despite the humor and stupidity we demonstrate periodically as a release valve), there is some philosopher buried deep down that knows exactly what you’re saying. If I weren’t in finance, I would be scaling some other intellectual mountain, and yearning for the relative innocence of the good retrospective feelings I had when I was on a lower elevation milestone of that mountain. The irony is, post-CFA, you are already getting wrapped up in other endeavors which may or may not be neatly compartmentalized as the CFA program, and it’ll only be in the hazy hindsight of a few more years for you to understand that you’ll start to yearn for the days of what you’re actually doing right this moment.
I clearly see symptoms of Stockholm syndrome here. the pain and horror of sacrifice has you wanting more. I suggest using your newfound freedom to do those things you lived to do prior to the studying. it will help with the healing
It feels good to be working towards a stated goal but that’s about the only thing I can see missing. Very easy to find something new to do to put in it’s place. I personally started running.
Just think about all the horrid things that come with prep. Exam day. The night before exam day. Days leading up to exam day. Waiting for results. The night before results. Studying on weekends. Writing AM papers. Grading AM papers. The constant worry that you aren’t prepared. Suddenly coming across something that looks like a foreign language in a mock on a topic you thought you knew top to bottom. Getting 2/6 on an item set. Probably could go on for the entire day honestly.
The day I walked out of that test center for what I know now to be the final time was the most glorious feeling ever.
