Maurice Maureen Avila lost her “dream” job as a flight attendant and after a few hard months of trying to rebuild her life, she ventured into a new business.
When asked about her lifestyle before the pandemic, Maurice says working as a flight attendant was quite glamorous. In fact, it is one of the most respected jobs in the Philippines. “You get to see different countries and meet people from different cultures. Pandemic changed all of that,” says Maurice.
The pandemic turned Maurice’s life upside down. Losing the main source of income made her turn to alternative ways of earning a living. Maurice tried to stay creative and find ways to contribute to the people around her. One day, she saw an opportunity in selling liquefied petroleum gas tanks to her neighbours. Soon after, with some help from her family, she franchised her business and started delivering the gas tanks on a trolley.
“So instead of my usual trolley I used as a flight attendant, I started pulling trolleys with gas,” laughs Maurice.
In October 2020, Maurice wrote about her new venture on social media for the first time. She confessed that it was difficult to “lose her wings” as a flight attendant, but now she can openly talk about the experience and show what she does for a living.
While still keeping her gas delivery business, Maurice was able to find another job in a bank as a transactional processing analyst.
“It is a very different experience working in a bank as I mainly work at home. I miss interacting with people. I miss my work colleagues from the airline, they are like family to me and we used to spend all the time together,” says Maurice.
With a radical change in the lifestyle, the biggest challenge is to take care of your mental and physical health. “The hardest part during this pandemic is that you are mentally, physically and emotionally unstable. You turn to your friends, relatives, colleagues for comfort, but they are also struggling. You realise you have to be strong and try to support people around you,” recounts Maurice.
Maurice is hopeful about the future and seeing her fellow flight attendants. She anticipates getting back to flying in 2022.
“There is always a light in the end tunnel. Learn to wait and stay strong,” Maurice shares her advice.