On the MBTI rating scale, I am an INTJ.
While MBTI is rather horoscop-y, there are some things about it that are pretty helpful to understand:
My natural preference – where I am most comfortable – is alone, without anyone around me, creating things by myself, without having to follow someone else’s procedures to do it.
So, in order to grow as a person, I did the exact opposite of that.
I took a job as a flight attendant.
For someone with social anxiety, it can be extremely difficult – nearly impossible, even – to fathom being around others in a cramped environment, day after day, with literally no way to escape.
Why on earth would anyone subject themselves to that willingly?
It’s actually a very simple answer:
The situation is controlled.
It is a safe, certain environment. The people change every day, but there is such strong training that you end up acting on instinct every day – it becomes second nature for you to be on the plane that you soon don’t even recognize the close quarters, or the people, or any of it.
It allows your brain to retrain itself in this one small area, and then start to rewrite patterns elsewhere as well.
The key is in the power structure:
If you walk into a crowded room, you have no idea what anyone is going to do, and it is scary.
If you are a flight attendant, you are trained to control any situation that arises – and therefore no fear.
I do not suggest that it will be easy to get to this state of emotional freedom, but I do highly recommend attempting it. Being a flight attendant was one of the best things I did for myself and my career.
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Can-a-person-with-some-social-anxiety-become-a-flight-attendant
Originally Posted On: 2016-04-18