🗓️ I’m Taking the CFP Exam in July (Not March) and Why This Was Hard

I want to share a decision I made recently and why it was much harder than it probably looks from the outside. I’ve decided to take my CFP® exam in July instead of March. On paper, this sounds simple. Just a scheduling change. Just four more months.

Emotionally? It felt extreme. It felt like failure. Like slowing down. Like admitting something uncomfortable: that my original timeline was not realistic.

For a while, I held onto the idea of March because I wanted it to work. I wanted to prove something to myself, maybe to others about my capacity, my discipline, my ability to “do hard things fast.” But once I made the decision to move it to July, something surprising happened.

I could finally see clearly. From this side of the decision, it’s almost obvious how delusional it was to think I could do everything I was doing running NurseMoneyDate®, coaching, building curriculum, living a full life and prepare for one of the most comprehensive financial exams in the industry on that timeline.

And I want to say this out loud, because it matters: I struggle with setting realistic goals too. Even as a coach. Even as someone who teaches discernment, pacing, and sustainability.

This is a lifelong practice not a skill you master once and never revisit. One of the most humbling lessons of this process has been this simple truth: really good things take time.

Not rushed time.
Not white-knuckled time.
But spacious, committed, intentional time.

Moving my exam to July wasn’t quitting. It was choosing integrity over urgency. And I’m sharing this because I know many of you are navigating your own version of this right now: adjusting timelines, redefining success, letting go of who you thought you “should” be by now.

That’s not failure.
That’s wisdom catching up to ambition.

And I’m proud of myself for listening.