Do You Have A Life Plan?

I never really had a plan. Back then you didn’t need one. There was no social media, so there was little FOMO or magnified self esteem issues. I did just fine finding my own insecurities thank you very much .My career trajectory was not based on a 10 year plan, but a moment by moment adventure, and what seemed interesting to me at the time.

I went to hotel and restaurant management school because I liked staying in hotels and enjoyed cooking and devouring cookbooks (my weight at the time reflected that!)

I moved to Park City Utah because I didn’t want to work at my local Sheraton. I applied for a job at the Stein Eriksen Inn because it’s theme was Norwegian, not because of the high end clientele. I learned so much as a concierge at this hotel, that I have taken with me into my current career as a private jet flight attendant. I became a massage therapist because a charming couple I met while in Utah were massage therapists, and they seemed really happy.

I became a yoga teacher because I took a yoga class and felt so much better after…like my insides woke up after years of hibernation. My chi overflowed.

I got my pilots license because

I met some cool chic who had just gotten hers and that seemed pretty baller. My dad used to take me flying when I was a kid, but it never occurred to me, I could actually get my license too until the day this pilot walked into my life. I started flying that day.

Ironically, the only job I did not pursue, but pursued me, is the one I am still in today, 20 plus years later. I had zero, and I mean zero interest in becoming a flight attendant.

But sometimes the universe has other plans for us, and I had to listen to the universe…right? I did in fact love flying, loved travel, loved the smell of jet fuel (seriously), and I had interest in food-both making and consuming…

I found myself on an all expense paid training week in Miami, to learn how

to become a corporate flight attendant. The highlight for me was when we got to go to the Miami Fire Department training building they use for fires. I put out my first big fire in a large cement room in the dark. Was my adrenaline pumping from this activity? I am thinking more adrenaline was zipping through my veins because of all of the hunky fire fighters whose sexy fundraising calendar had just come out.. I was freaking living the

dream!

Other than the hunky firefighters, (I am still tingly about it all these years later), I am so grateful for my instructor. Her first name was Carol, and she had been a flight attendant on a United flight where there was an accident with many fatalities.

She witnessed deaths of her passengers, including an infant. This profound event had such and impact on her, and in turn on us, her students. She hammered the importance of safety, of being prepared, of not getting complacent. She had lived it. We felt it.

All these years later I have not let the safety aspect of my job be clouded by all the bells and whistles of good service. Thank you Carol, wherever you are.