Tips for a Balanced Cabin Crew Life

Your first few days as a new cabin crew is exciting as every. The thrill of flying to places you've only seen in books and social media, getting your first salary, working with different people, wearing your uniform, and stepping inside an aircraft, all contribute to your  excitement as a newly winged flight attendant. As time goes by though, the  excitement dies down and sometimes, you will always feel tired which may eventually lead to boredom. Guess what, you are near the point of burning out and you might need to consider to balance your flying and personal life.

We are pretty sure that from the very beginning, you were made aware of that you will be working on weekends, you will work on holidays, and that you will be working at different time frames from also different time zones. You were also made aware that your schedules are not fixed. Some do forget to realize the negative impacts of this due to their excitement during their first year of flying but later on, the effects will be felt. Perhaps, you had been working too hard that you must have forgotten to live your own life as well. 

We now share you some tips from the more senior cabin crew on how they put a balance to their work and leisure time, thus, are able to enjoy their flying life for more than a decade.

Take Power Naps in Between and Enough Sleep During Offs
Working on different time zones messes up your body clock but sleep is still very important for you to stay alert at all times. Some of our senior cabin crew tries to take power naps while waiting for their flights or gets amble sleep during crew rest time in flights. Do not sacrifice "chikas" and "social media time" for sleep. Your body needs to recover. Sleep also helps keeping you alert at all times during your shift especially in a long haul flight. Then when you get to your layover station or back at home, get at least eight hours of sleep at night as much as possible.

Exercise and Try to Get Into Yoga
This includes going to gym or getting a massage or practicing Yoga. This helps a lot in destressing yourself from your flights. It also speeds up your body's recovery. Flying and flying pushes our bodies to the limit and it is good that we also get to counteract it. 

Always Plan Everything Ahead
Knowing that you live an erratic schedule, always plan things in advance. When you get your schedules a month or two prior, plan out your whole month away. Plan out your family chores, family activities, bills payment, your leisure activities, parties, and time to sleep. Our more senior cabin crew would always do their best to plot out all their activities for the month, with some flexibility for spur-of-the-moment activities. Try also to pay your bills via mobile or auto debit, to make sure things are taken cared of even if you are out of the country. Planning ahead of time will greatly help seeing how well balanced are your activities. 

Get into a Business or a Social Activity
One great way of living a balanced and fulfilling life is giving back to society. Some of our cabin crew engages into social activities like creating bags where revenue are donated to the less fortunate, there are some who visits an orphanage and a home for the elderlies. Some also joins socia-cultural activities like historic tours and walking tours. There are also other cabin crew members who opens a small business that they can manage given their time schedules. Having a business especially one which you are passionate about helps balance out a cabin crew's life.

Avoid Feeling Lonely
Social media is a cabin crew's best friend especially during layovers, and that's what makes flying not so lonely anymore. Well of course sometimes, it feels lonely seeing your family celebrating Christmas and New Year without you  because you are abroad, but hey, there's Viber and other forms of conferencing. We also suggest that you plan an activity with your family and loved ones when you get back. The excitement will counter your loneliness.

Practice Proper Time Management
No one is too busy or too tired if time management is practiced well. Even with a hectic flying life, you always have the option to properly manage your own time. Practice also some time saving techniques like always having a pre-packed suitcase incase you are upgraded to fly.

Do not forget that you still have a life of your own. Flying is not everything so always remember to put a balance on your work and life. Love your bodies and value time.

Happy flying!

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