I’m not presently working but I trained, and worked as, a software developer. I struggle a lot with work and my working life has been very chaotic due to shit mental health. It seems like a really stupid idea, as being a chef is meant to be really stressful. However, the idea of it being fast-paced, immediate, physical, intense, sensory seems really really appealing to me.
I’m sorry if this isn’t a lot of information to go on. I’m trying to reduce details, partly for privacy’s sake, partly because if I don’t wind myself-in this could be a novel long.
Can you do the same thing for 8+ hours in a row? Even when it’s not interesting? Can you chop 100 onions and still enjoy that process afterwards the next day, and the day after? Making risotto 100 times in a day? Baking 50 loaves of bread? 2000 cookies? Can you switch back and forth and make sure nothing is raw or burnt? How’s your time management? Down to the nanosecond? (hyperbole, but still)
Working in a kitchen professionally is doing things at enormous scale, and doing it all day, every day, and often doing 5+ tasks at once, each of which need to be timed to be complete within seconds (ideally). Often more than 40 hours a week. And often lots of yelling.
How does that sound?