Avoid all extremes

The year is half over. Thank you all for putting up with me these past 5 months. I haven't been myself much lately.
Studying for actuarial exams is quite a bit more difficult in the "real world" than in college or even high school. The strain was compounded by isolation. The Kohelet (Teacher) writes: "Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise-- why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool-- why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes." (Ecclesiastes 7:16-18)
Hopefully in reading this, you can prevent my errors from coming up in your life. Or, maybe more realistically, if someday you find similar symptoms within you, you will have a frame of reference for processing your situation.

I really wanted to pass this exam. Getting it behind me, the rarity of passing all the actuarial tests the first time, a big FSA raise, moving on with life, personal accomplishment -- what's not to like? A certain very wise man often said, "If something is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly."[sic] Hey, just because someone is wiser than I can ever hope to be, it doesn't mean everything they say is divinely inspired. If you know me, you know that isn't my philosophy. I can be rather forgetful at times, but if I put my mind to something, it better be done well. That personality trait can be both a blessing and a curse.
Getting back to the exam -- studying was going well. I was putting my 20 hours (Edit: per week) in (addition to work, of course). The exam is getting closer -- let's try for 30 hours. Only a couple more months -- let's try 40. It's only a month now -- can we get 50? You can probably see where this is going. In the thick of it all, I couldn't. I started getting irritable. Multiple people asked me: "Ben, is that really you? Did you just say that? That doesn't sound like you." Studying started becoming less efficient -- I would stare at a page and realize an hour later that I wasn't any further along. Drifting away from my support system -- family, Northwestern, small group, close friends only served to compound the struggles. Feet issues which kept me indoors (rather than memorizing flashcards walking down Lake Michigan) didn't help either.
So what do you do in a situation like this? Even upon coming to a realization that something might be going wrong, I didn't have much time to think about the problem. There was The Sacred Study Schedule. And not extra time in the day to sit and think. Even if there was time, I was already stressed out and my mental facilities were taxed so as to render judgment difficult.

God gives us many blessings in life. Good friends. Psychology experts. Fellow actuaries who have been-there-done-that. All these people provided much needed advice. Take a break (I took an evening off and went to Devon to eat Indian with a friend, skipping over that day's Sacred Study Schedule entirely). Break the walking up to keep your feet happy (walking for 5 minutes then sitting for 5 minutes is still 10 minutes of flashcard time, and the fresh air did me well). Don't get too caught up in your study schedule and memorizing everything (you mean if I don't quite memorize my 4 pages per day, it doesn't necessarily mean I'll utterly fail?).

The exam came and went, and it went well. Real well. But that is a different post.

Reader feedback has indicated a desire for more pictures. So if you've been able to plow through all this text, here's a picture for you. It is at a Twins game at US Cellular field, during one of the study breaks.