Malaysian Shares Reality Of Having Your Career Destroyed By Covid-19 With A Wife & Baby To Feed [OPINION]
When your whole family depends on you, you have no choice but to power through
By
Hakeem Khairudin
Father, Husband, and Former Cabin Crew
Have you ever had a nightmare, recurring day in and day out that you’re helpless to escape?
That is the best, most concise way I can describe losing my source of income in this pandemic. The floor fell out from under me and a continuous free fall began.
In hindsight I believe I could have handled it better, but this was an impact that no one could brace for.
Alas life had to go on and I started to search for employment to keep my small family afloat. But it wasn’t that simple.
Companies across the nation were down to core workforce, with all expendables ultimately let go. Of a hundred branches for me to grab hold of, almost all were broken, or in decay.
The skills I had harnessed were no longer golden in the job market, with a career I held dear for almost a decade rendered obsolete. To say paving a new path for my family as a husband and father was difficult is a severe understatement.
In the instant of finally hitting rock bottom, I could finally see the wreckage surrounding my family and I.
Day by day the crumbling walls chipping away at our hearts and minds, stirring up so much stress and anxiety that we lost not only the financial pillar, but also our mental health. Every day bore a kick or a punch further hammering me to the ground.
As expected, like a pot of boiling water, the surface broke and mini eruptions further rocked our foundations. I single-handedly managed to collapse and take down every pillar of a healthy household with me. The weight on my shoulders never heavier.
Needless to say it took everything from my spouse and I put together, to sift through the rubble and see a ray of light. Finally, on the dawn of the new year, we took a step forward and found the spark we needed to restart our lives.
In the end its mankind’s most ancient instinct that coins change and continuation. Survival. The same trivial notion that tells us to stay away from fire or hold our breath under water.
I sent my CV out to every agency and company with or without openings and will continue to do so till the floor finds its way back to my feet. I am surviving, and to say the least, there’s nothing the world can throw at me that will make me stop fighting.
Hakeem Khairudin was a flight attendant for close to eight years from two different Malaysian airlines before being let go in mid-2020 as airlines across the world downsized in light of travel restrictions brought on by Covid-19.
He was married on 22nd February 2019 and blessed with a beautiful daughter on 5th January 2020.
(Pic credit: Hakeem Khairudin)
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