Sometimes you just have to put on your Big Girl Panties!

Although I may be in my mid-thirties, there are way too many times I feel like a petulant teenager and I just want to scream, "You're not the boss of me!"

Most of the time, I have the luxury of doing what I want when I want to do it.  If I want to stay up late, I can do it.  Eat ice cream for dinner?  I can do that too.  (I don't recommend it though!)  Go for a motorcycle ride instead of washing the sink full of dishes?  Yep!!

The problem with this freedom is that left unchecked, you can end up tired, fat and living in a dirty house.  Sadly, all of these things are true for me right now.

This bohemian, slacker, hedonistic lifestyles has unfortunately also spilled into my professional life.  As an actuary without letters behind my name, I have a LOT of professional exams that need to be passed.  I came out of college all gung ho to pass them, but 1) they are HARD to pass and 2) there are way better (more fun) things to be doing on a lovely warm Saturday in August (...insert any other month here!) than studying for an exam!

Fortunately my company and supervisor have been understanding.  I may not have letters behind my name, but I do a great job and they don't have to pay me as much as they would otherwise.

But what's good for them is bad for me.  I am good at my job and not being paid anywhere near what I should be all because of a few letters!

So, as I quickly careen towards 40, perhaps it's time to realize that sometimes other people really are the boss of me.  It's time to get serious.  It's time to get paid!

Here's where I need your help.  I hate to set goals because most of the time I feel like a failure, but I've set a schedule of exam progress that I'm going to TRY to stick to.  If all goes well, I will have letters behind my name by September of 2013.  For those of you who don't know much about Actuarial Exams, this may seem like the distant future, but believe me when I tell you it's not!

I'll try to keep you all posted on here, but in the meantime, if you've got some spare prayers you could send up, some words of wisdom or witty quotes to keep me motivated I could really use them.  If you know me in real life or just want to leave me a comment, ask me how they are going.  I should be making SOME progress each month, so I need to stay accountable!

Most of all, when I tell you to mind your own business or to get off my case, ignore me.  When I tell you that you're not the boss of me, remind me that I gave you permission to be the boss of me...for a while anyway.

It's time for some tough love.

I'm off to try on my big girl panties!