Are You Afraid of Flying?
Hi, here I am again. I used to be afraid of flying. Last year, my wife insisted we visit Europe. She has friends there, and they had offered to put us up. We were scheduled to go to France, England, and then Iceland. We were to travel in July, but my wife and our son were deeply entrenched in planning the trip early in the year. I didn't have anything against going to Europe, as long as that could be accomplished without flying. I had pictured the possibility of a ship. Well, that doesn't happen anymore. I had to bite the bullet, and I knew that. But all the time that my family was planning this, I was hoping it would all blow away somehow, even though I knew the day was coming, and it kept coming, closer and closer, until the day finally arrived.
By that time I was resigned, and I stepped into the airplane like a condemned man who has no choice. As the plane took off, I held my wife's hand and I think I prayed. Takeoffs always used to make me nervous. That's an understatement. I'm sure I would have preferred to have my teeth pulled.
But a funny ting happened. As the flight progressed, I became calmer and I realized that my biggest fear wasn't of flying but of my own emotions. I was afraid I was going to completely lose it on the flight and they'd have to restrain me, or something.
Well, after that we flew again, from England to Iceland and from Iceland back to Canada. I wasn't afraid anymore. And I wondered why. Because I had no choice, that's the truth. I had to go through that awful stuff in order to get to the good stuff.
That wisdom can be applied to what we do here at WA. There are times when I don't want to go near my site, or anything to do with this, because of fear. Fear of failing, or fear of success? It really comes to the same thing. Expecting a negative outcome, or a positive outcome, doesn't matter. To really get what's happening, you have to be balanced. Balanced enough to understand that nothing terrible is happening to you. It's just something you got to go through if you want to get to the end of whatever you're up against.
Recent Comments
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Nothing to worry about at all! I've been on a dozen flights this year already and it is only April!
Freakily on 3 flights yesterday i was given the same seat number of all of them! 12A! freaky!.
Flying long haul, which I have done many times I advise getting a window seat if you can prebook or better still the "basinet seats" and window, much much more leg room!. More comfortable.
Get a neck rest and move around and stretch frequently to keep blood flowing drink plenty fluids.
Also worth is to take your laptop or mobile device upload movies and so on, get some wifi date on the flight (can be expensive, depends) to occupy your mind..12hrs plus on a flight nothing to do, no where to go. Book good option too.
I tend to attend to my site while flying, productivity!
Thanks for your comment. As for the seat number, yeah that's pretty freaky all right. I did get used to it, finally, and on the way back from Iceland I just sat back and it really just felt like a bus ride.
Well, it's my first trip to Europe since...that'd give away my age (lol). Anyhow, it's been long, long time. I didn't know anything about Iceland, and I was quite surprised by what I saw. If you've watched Game of Thrones, I know some of if was shot there, and I can see why. It's a strange country, very unusual. Only about 330,000 native Icelanders, the rest are people working there from other countries and tourists. People live more or less around the circumference of the country, because the interior is all volcanoes and a countryside that looks about as primitive as you'd expect. People there are very hospitable.
There you go, a quick Cook's tour! Hope that helps!
OMG..Your first trip to Europe since....Columbus set sail? hahahaha!
Glad you had a great time and found the flying tin can pretty safe and sound!
Yes, it was around the time of Columbus. Actually, I immigrated to Canada way back when ocean liners still crossed the Atlantic. That was cool, because the country opened up to me as we sailed up the St Lawrence River, all the way to Montreal. It's an experience I will always remember. So, now you can see that I really am ancient!
So true. I'll admit, I'm not fond of flying. It doesn't terrify me, but I still prefer to get it over with. I don't care for ear-popping altitudes. With that said, I'm pretty good at reasoning with myself when fear tries to poke its head up. I haven't always been that way, but I'm glad I developed it in time for what I'm doing now.
Thanks for the comment. I wasn't just nervous about flying, I was convinced that every flight I boarded was going to crash. Now, that's a little paranoid!
I am so glad you wrote this post and in particular shared this fear so vividly. I honestly thought I was the only one who's thoughts operated this way. I am happy not to be alone. Must say it doesn't make flying easier, and I know I will borard another plane, but I can hate it. However, I love how you connected flying with WA, especially the half empty half full thinking, it is so true. Thanks again
Great post but I am still afraid of flying. I really refuse to get on a plane I will go in a car before I will fly. I know what you are getting at and I understand what you mean.
This is something that we have to do to get where we need to be.
Anything that is worrying us that will stop once we succeed in this business. That is motivation to get us through these little hurdles.
Yeah, it's what's important to you, personally. For me it was absolutely essential I get over the fear of flying because I wanted to go to Europe with my family. My only other choice would have been to stay home. I could have put it aside for awhile and as long as I didn't need to fly, it didn't matter that much. But then I was confronted with the inevitable.
Thanks for your comments.
Yes, you got a good point there. I guess I better get over my fear of flying then, shouldn't I? Well, then that is what I am going to have to do then. You are very welcome
I know there are groups for fearful flyers who all get together and go on a supervised flight with someone who is a therapist, I think. Might that be something you'd want to consider? I'm not a therapist, of course, just a suggestion.
And again, you know, it's only if you want to get over the fear. If you don't need to fly and everything is okay in your life otherwise, then I guess you have to ask yourself how important is it? But by all means, in today's world sooner or later I guess we have to fly.
I will look into that fear flyers with the therapist I believe that might be better for me than anything else. Thank you for the information I greatly appreciate that so much.
No problem. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who felt this way about flying, because everyone I knew had no problem flying at all. Anyway, you're welcome.
Glad to read your story! I am also afraid of flying. I haven't been on a plane in over 15 years now but I am finally getting on one next month. And I'm pretty nervous about it. But I keep thinking about how badly I want to go where it is I'm supposed to go and how excited I am to go. So far, that's been making me feel better. :D
Thanks for your input. I can't speak for everybody. I discovered that anxiety in general usually finds a home somewhere, like with me it was flying, and with other people it could be fear of getting in an elevator, like that. Conquering a known fear helps to defray generalized anxiety. I'm not a psychologist, or anything, but I've read a lot and practiced some of the things that I read about. And it really works, that's that thing. So once you start on that roll, and you know the fear is there but you can put it on the back burner. Well, that's kind of like what soldiers do. They're scared. But they manage it. It's amazing what a person can do if he really has to.
Well I am glad to know you went through with this fear of flying and remember we are all here to help you with your fear here. You can message me.
I guess it depends on what's important to you. I had this fear for years, and I even took flying lessons in a Cessna to get over that. It didn't work. I was terrified! So that didn't work out.
Thanks for you input, Loes.
It is funny to me how we can find things in every day Life that are related to WA.
That was a good analogy!
Tried and True
Elaine
Yup. It's true. Watching basketball with my son taught me about persistence, tactics, but mainly just perseverance.
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So good is this post! Fortunately I love flying as long as it isn't too far away, then it get tedious. Great that you overcame that fear, now you will realize once done, you can do it again.
I get sweaty hands and go into a drama sometimes when I can't understand a particular lesson. I go to the next lesson, and somewhere down the line able to deal with the hard lesson.
We all have fear, it's just to learn how to cope with it.
Super post.
Cheers Jae ☺
Right you are. Thanks for your comments.