There is so much that I can’t really tell you about my job anymore and sometimes, what I can tell you is hard to explain. There are no schedules, I have no benefits— health or flight— and I never know how much I will make. The unknowns are just as unnerving as they are addicting. As much as I hate getting a call to go to Nice, France twenty hours prior, I secretly love the endless possibilities this job offers. I’m learning to manage, juggle, and mingle my work goals and personal life in total autonomy from what anyone else wants or expects of me. I don’t have a set of rules or compliance checks but the expectation remains that I will always go above and beyond in my work. Along with that expectation comes a professional level of treatment that is so refreshing when compared to my airline background.
I’ve taken ownership of my life and am empowered to create a beautiful and bright future. This is both amazing and scary. I often feel in over my head, but that’s ok. I’m still swimming. I didn’t think I would like private aviation and yet, I find myself enamored and inspired by this intriguing world and the change makers who rule it. I’ve noticed growth within myself that I would have never imagined. No longer do I look forward to an upcoming holiday and days and days away from the airline’s flying schedule, but work at a nonstop pace. Yes— I would say that I’m exhausted. Very. But the level of tired is trumped by a deep sense of gratitude over how blessed I am. So blessed that I made it this far, because last year, ‘this far’ felt impossibly far away.
I broke my ankle. I was beyond broke. I didn’t see how what I thought would be better than what I left— The Airline for the private jet world— would ever pan out like I had envisioned. Relationships were discouraging at best. I wondered what wrong turn I had made and how I would turn it all right. What I see now is that there wasn’t anything I had done right or wrong, but I simply needed time. I had to earn the right to be where I am if simply only for the fact that the wait made me more grateful and more humble than I would have been if the opportunities came easily.
I’m glad I broke my ankle as I don’t think I would understand how strong I actually am.
I’m glad that I struggled through a minimum wage job because I don’t think I would appreciate all of the people who came behind me and are doing what I had to do at one point. I don’t think I would appreciate the honor and privilege it is to fly in the way that I do.
I feel that I don’t belong here while simultaneously feeling like I do belong. Instagram makes my life look envious, but I’m just a normal girl with an endless sense of optimism that it has to all work out at some point, right? I’m not any more special or worthy than you are to live the way that you want and do the things that you want to do. The best answer I can give for you to become a flight attendant isn’t about the schools to attend or how to apply, but that you need and must make a decision. You make a decision to do something and you don’t stop working towards it until it’s done. Whether it takes two months or twenty years, you know what you want and you give everything for that dream.
I believe we can be a group of dreamers and change makers who build a better world. It’s not about aviation or money— it’s all about mindset. Upgrading your mindset is one of the most worthwhile choices that you can make for yourself; every single day and every single minute.
I’m writing this sleep deprived and scatterbrained. I’m not sure it’s about ‘flight attendant life’ or will help you, but I hope that it does something. I feel like I’ve neglected you and this blog, but it’s not because I don’t care or because we are not gonna keep doing this thing. I’m working on a book and website change. There have been pauses along the way, but I’ll just keep doing.
So, today…just keep doing that thing. Do that thing that you want to do even if it feels impossibly far away, today. Because today only lasts 24 hours, and tomorrow is full of so much possibility.
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