As I grew up, I knew I wanted to live an exciting life. When I was 10 years old I talked about selling jet skis and owning a tourism company. Then when I was 15 years old I talked about becoming a veterinarian and owning my own practice.
At 18, I decided I would move my entire life from New Jersey to Orlando, FL to attend the University of Central Florida for my undergraduate studies. At this time I was very unsure of what career path I wanted. I felt extremely pressured to "succeed" and pick a major quickly, so I picked what I was good at; science. I began majoring in pre-medical sciences and working in the medical field. I was working as a medical scribe in the emergency department while studying and attending classes.
After 4 years, it felt very overwhelming and I had such little passion for what I was pursuing. It felt as if I was pushing myself so hard for something I really did not love. When I say the word lost it hardly does it justice, but I felt so lost at this point. In 2018 I had graduated UCF with my pre-medical bachelors degree and thought that the only way I could have a career now was if it were in medicine. I decided that I would attend physician assistant school to pursue my studies in the medical field. I spent weeks filling out applications for these graduate schools, which totaled to be about $1000.00 just to send the applications. Then, I waited. I waited months to hear back from these graduate schools and while I waited, I worked some more. This time I worked in a pediatric office. One of my first acceptances was from a school in New York City, it was one of the schools I was highly interested in. I was accepted!!!!!! I should be happy right??? WRONG. I felt this feeling of panic inside of me knowing that what I was pursuing was not something I would be happy with for life. It was not fulfilling me and I felt so forced.
During this time of feeling so lost I tried to tell myself that whatever career was meant for me would find its way to me. I kind of put it in the universes hands and just stopped worrying. I prayed that I would find my passion and I told myself I would never settle.
A few months later in July, I was on a trip with my boyfriend in San Diego. San Diego is known for their airport and the planes landing just a few hundred feet over the city. One night we went to the top of a parking garage right next to the touchdown zone at KSAN. I stood there as a jet flew about 100 feet over my head and watched it land. We stood up here for a while and watched all the planes as they went by. Then we did it again the next day in a different spot, and again at night. I found myself chasing these jets with such excitement. I still vividly remember when I said to my boyfriend one day we were there "I wish I could just be like those pilots, I feel like that would be such a perfect job for me, I've always loved planes and it seems so free". Not even slightly exaggerating when I say that we looked at each other and just knew it was going to happen. It clicked so fast in that exact moment- I should be a pilot. In that very moment hearing myself say "I should be a pilot" felt as if 1000 boulders were lifted off my chest and shoulders, I felt a feeling of relief and passion--I had finally been lead in the direction of my purpose and career path.
After returning home from San Diego, I told my parents about my entire life switch up. They were somewhat horrified that I even thought twice about giving up a career in medicine that I worked so hard for to become a pilot which is something I hardly every mentioned. After several crying phone calls and convincing, I finally was able to make a deal with them. I would get my private pilot license at a private school in ORL and pay for it as I go to prove to them how serious I was about pursuing this.
After about 4-5 months, I was a licensed Private Pilot. My parents had never been more proud of me, I had never been more proud of myself, and I had not had one second thought about this choice. I am now training with ATP half way through my instrument training and look back on all of this and smile.
My path was not smoothly paved and it had forks in the road but I where I am now is all that matters. These moments in the past have made me grow in so many ways and just shows you that if you're not happy doing something, STOP. Anything that is worth doing truly does not come easy but when you're on the right path it almost feels easy because of how hard you're willing to work for something you love. I still love flying more every single day, I never have a dull moment, and I truly believe I will respect this career/hobby for the rest of my life due to the fact that it saved me. It took me out of a lost place and gave me a home. Flying has found me.
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