How to overcome your fear of flying
I am one of those weird people who loves flying, but only if I don’t think about it too much. I have never been nervous to fly until I had a severe toothache on the way to Mexico and thought my tooth would crack mid-flight. I went to my dentist after that trip and before my next trip and nothing major was wrong. I went to Europe since then and I had some MAJOR anxiety. I aggressively chewed gum the entire flight, took Sudafed to help with the pressure, and took some xanax. While this wasn’t a fear of flying, per say, it was a fear of something happening while flying, which is almost as bad because you’re stuck on the plane! Some people cannot stand the idea of flying and that is valid. If this is you and you are wanting to travel but feel prohibited, work on it! Here are some ways to get through your fear of flying.
Identify your triggers. Most fears about flying are all normal. Work on how to alleviate the stress that coincides with that specific fear as much as possible.
Is it turbulence? Take-off? Landing?
A lot of this fear is based in the way your body feels when these parts of flying are happening. I still do some deep breathing during take-off and when it’s turbulent.
Learn about what causes turbulence and how airplanes are designed to deal with it.
Flying over large bodies of water? Claustrophobic?
I personally prefer an aisle seat. I don’t normally feel claustrophobic, but I do feel trapped when I’m in the window seat. I also have to use the restroom a ton, so I will pay to have an aisle seat on longer flights to make myself feel better.
Separate fear from danger
Anxiety is REAL. And it sucks. Nothing is worse than having a major anxiety episode, or even an anxiety attack, and feeling trapped. Your body reacts in the same way when you’re anxious as when you are in danger, so logically separate what is fear-based and what is actually dangerous. If you feel yourself getting anxious, do some deep breathing and start identifying what you are seeing and feeling.
Bring something soothing
Xanax (Dramamine also helps if you don’t have or want to take Xanax), music, books, movies. Whatever helps calm you down. I was so worried about my tooth cracking on my last flight (it was my sinuses upsetting the roots of my molars, but see, anxiety still gets the best of me when flying, too), so I looked up movies the flight would have and got myself excited about the movies I could watch. They had the last 4 Harry Potter movies, so I was set :)
Ask to meet the pilots
Most pilots would be happy to introduce themselves to you, and meeting the people who are flying you can help ease some anxieties you may have.
Familiarize yourself with your plane
Seat Guru will show you the exact layout of your plane and will show you the best and worst seats on the plane. Sometimes knowing what your plane will look like will help ease some anxieties because it isn’t new.
Do you have any tips to get over your fear of flying? If so, drop them in the comments below!