17 signs that a 9-5 job IS NOT FOR YOU…

Them: So what do you do?

Me: I fly. I am a Flight Attendant.

Them: WOWWWW!

Me: 

Being a Flight Attendant is all that what you think of AND MORE. Heavy emphasis on the AND MORE! When I applied a couple of months ago, I thought that this job would be a breeze! How hard could it be? Serve some crackers and pour some drinks. Smile and look pretty and travel everywhere that I could ever want to go! Right? That’s not hard! Anyone could do it! A freaking toddler could do it!

But boy was I wrong! ANYONE could not do it! The interview process is like American Idol (you stand in front of judges to perform your set and if they like you, you are chosen to go to the next round, if not, you are dismissed). However, they are judging you based on your appearance, smile, and more. There are thousands of “contestants” all competing to be the very best flight attendant the judges have ever seen. (Sounds familiar to all job interviews) However, the chance of getting picked for EVEN an interview is 2 of out 10 applicants. Okay, so after you go through the interview process (which last a minimum of 12 hours) you are sent home to pack for training. That is when sh*t gets real! You have to pass the 4 week training with a minimum of 90% on over 30 tests. If not, you are dismissed. You have to wear the uniform precisely the way they want you to. If not, you are dismissed. You have to wear the exact MATERIAL shoes they want you to. If not, you are dismissed. You have to have your make-up the EXACT way they want. If not ,you are dismissed. So on and so forth. This is just the training portion.

It is extremely restricting. If you are anything like me, you are thinking, to hell with ALL OF this. However, you know the idea of being a flight attendant is far too good to let go. So you prevail. But your soul is screaming! Your soul is screaming out for it to BE LET FREE! So do you push through to wait to see if you get this FREEDOM that a coveted Flight Attendant PROMISED or do you give up?

When I graduated, I got my wings and cried. I cried not tears of joy but I felt sorrow. I FELT TRUE SADNESS. I felt trapped. I felt like I just got sentenced to DEATH. I felt like nothing I did within the last 4 weeks even mattered to me. I shed blood, sweat, and tears and none of it mattered truly within my heart. I didn’t truly care about being a flight attendant. I just knew it was a difficult job to get and I wanted to prove that I could get it. We started out with 80 people and only 45 people graduated in my class. I should have been happy that I made it. But I wasn’t.

That is when I knew. I knew that any type of job, no matter the hours, working for someone else was not for me. Working for someone else may be for some people. It is just not for me. If you experienced anything like death when they told you that you have the job….you should explore other options. Here are more signs that a job may NOT be for you:

1. If you work 40 hours out of a 168 hour week and it feels like a waste of close to 1/3 of your life…
2. If they tell you that “YOU HAVE THE JOB!” and you cringe…
3. If you equate having a job to being “trapped”….
4. If you count how many things you lose instead of gain once you get that job…
5. If once they give you the job, you already have plans on quitting…you have JUST wasted your time.
6. If you didn’t even like the people you interviewed with….
7. If you applied out of desperation…
8. If you looked for confirmation that you did the right thing from a friend or spouse….
9. If the moment they told you your work schedule, you needed to change half of it….
10. If having that job RESTRICTS you from doing the things that actually make you happy…
11. You use their wifi for Youtube or Pinterest…
12. If the only reason you are excited to go to work is because you know you get to browse the internet for hours…
13. You feel the same way about this job that you did at the last 3 JOBS YOU QUIT…
14. You have called out for at least 5 days in the last 6 months for “personal reasons”…
15. If you tell yourself it will get better and you are only one month in…
16. If you only took the job to please your wife/husband/mother/friends….
17. If you just stopped going and instead you sit in your car for hours until 5pm comes and then you go home like as if you had a hard day at work…

It may be THAT job in particular. However, whatever the case may be, it deserves to be explored. Maybe you don’t like that job or maybe you don’t like working for anyone in general. Either way, it is time to rethink and reevaluate. It is a pain that no one can understand. It is an ache. You deserve to explore what makes you happy. You soul needs it. You deserve it. Your heart deserves it. The solution may be a simple…quit. Or pursue a side hustle that actually interests you. Or find what about the job attracted you in the first place. But don’t ignore the nagging pain that you feel…it is time to explore it.

I know it is hard but you deserve the very best that life has to offer. Don’t you agree? Explore it. I dare you.

-xoxo Candice