Many of us have fear of flying. Some people help themselves with a sleeping pill, but for many people it doesn’t help, besides, pills aren’t really permanent solution to a problem and will definitely not eliminate your fear of flying.
Fear of flying is a perfect example and is a tricky derivative of fear of death (there are multiple tools on that one in Mechanisms section btw.) People aren’t afraid of flying itself, people are afraid of perceived vulnerability during the take-off, landing, tech fault or possible terrorist intervention.
It is natural for us to be afraid of heights and flights, people aren’t birds and are not predisposed to flying naturally. All of us have different causes of fear of flying, for some it is hard to cope with lack of control over the “vehicle” and for others it is an accident itself (e.g. crash)
How to overcome fear of flying?
There are numerous scientifically proven tips and tricks for all of us in fear:
1, Keep in mind a simple fact that: Plane is like a train, makes multiple trips per day, it must be reliable, right?
2. Breathe normally, don’t try to hold your breath, just breathe. Lack of oxygen in your brain and blood can cause increased anxiety. Google and try diaphragmatic breathing, might come in handy.
3. Don’t fly hungry, it is another cause for increased anxiety. Some sweets can be helpful as well, but not too much (eating-induced endorphins reduce anxiety)
4. Shift your thoughts to something calming, calm sea waves, field of flowers etc.
5. Try to feel the ground with your feet, take off your shoes if necessary.
6. Don’t attempt to control the flight, most probably you don’t know anything about every detail of the flight. Thus, looking out of windows or listening closely to the sounds of the aircraft isn’t going to help. Why bother about things you don’t know or understand
7. Pilot is human, and is inevitably controlled by self-preservation. Pilot wants to live as much as you do.
Diving deeper…
If you look at the fear of flying (aerophobia) from a professional point of view, aerophobia is a psychological disorder that may be aggravated by fatigue, stress or depression, thus panic reaction is common.
Despite different reasons that cause fear of flying, today flying is the most efficient and sometimes the only way to get from point A to point B. People need to fly. However there is no solid solution for that. And the only right answer to the question of how to deal with the fear of flying is to dig deep into the true reasons of fear of flying and start from there.
Psychological therapy offers us many ways to overcome phobias, however the bad is that many neglect that fears are extremely personal and the roots for all of us are different. Thus personal approach is strictly needed. For some fear of flying could’ve been caused by the news report, and others could’ve received phobia from teachings or experiences of other people.
If you are tired of coping with fear of flying, it is the right time to get rid of it and eliminate the exact reason of – WHY do you have this fear, WHAT exactly is the cause of it? However if you are not ready to go through the extremely branched nature of fear and work on wide array of complex aspects that at a first glance might seem to be unrelated to fear itself, than it is better to follow and reassure suggestions above. But if you are ready to get rid of fear of flying and anxiety that is caused by it, eliminate every single root and reason of it, it is time to act, fear is just mental material that can be divided into pieces, trash, and it is time to purify your mind.
Just grab free MB book or take free MB course, to learn how to deal with fear of flying, or anything else that bothers you.
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