Bailey Blog

I currently work for two floral businesses. One of them is a full production event design business and is the root of most of my anxiety, frustration, and unhappiness with my career at the moment.

Working in the floral industry is as stressful as it is fun and exciting. Generally, the event industry isn’t the place to search for a career when you dislike excitement, deadlines, and high-strung personalities. I do thrive in quick-paced environments and particularly like the challenge, competition, and team building that atmosphere can create. I dislike, however, a disorganized leader and lack of structure within a business. This is where agitation comes in.

As a twenty-something with a college degree, I hardly envisioned myself in the floral industry not using said degree. In some ways, I use my intellectual skills to problem solve and troubleshoot. In other ways, I know I am destined for something more specialized that utilizes my full intelligence and that might provide more of a purpose for my education.

Graduating college in the dead start of the 2020 pandemic, job opportunities were scarce and I landed myself in a law firm that chewed me up and spit me out. I only worked in the records department for six months and experiences immense verbal abuse from clients and acquired a 200+ case load that left me drowning and crying most days. I soon quit and resorted to food-running and making espresso drinks. About a year later, I got another job and another. Just jobs along the way to pay the bills but never a career.

I was talking to my dad on the phone, one an anxiety-induced stroll in the middle of work day, and he suggested I compile a list of traits I enjoy about my jobs or any job I’ve had and hone in those characteristics that work for me the best. The things that get me excited, the routine or structure that works best for my personality, the type of people I would like to interact with, physical activity level etc. It really got me thinking about what makes me tick as a person and how a lot of those innate attributes I crave to encourage are genuinely lost in the work I am doing.

But what to do next? How do I find my correct path with such a varied resume? How do I choose a job with such a plethora of pathways in front of me and behind me. I was accepted at NYU, UCLA, Cal Berkeley, UCSD…I know I am smart and driven; dedicated beyond reason when I have a reason. I just lack the direction and I have known that for a while.

For certain, it’s time for change and a true career for me. I am not happy where I stand. Therefore, it’s time to break ground on this personal renovation and do the unthinkable…quit one of my jobs.