If there’s one thing that’s holding back millions of people from escalating as an individual and becoming the best version of them is a FEAR! While there are many small fears that you can easily avoid, some are incredibly impossible to dodge like the phobia of flying.
As per stats, air travels are considered as one of the safest travel modes, but this also can do nothing to quash the dread caused by a frightened plane traveller. Further, when it comes to the phobia of flying, it seems that many people are afraid of the worst case scenarios. For some its the plane getting hijacked, however, for others, it might be about crashing.
If you hate flyings or have the phobia of flying, here are some simple steps you can follow to overcome it:
Know What Triggers You And Make You Feel Fearful:
First, figure out what bothers you and how your stress and anxiety is triggered. You should know what makes you feel fearful, so that you can manage things when the anxiety level goes down.
Is Your Fear Logical?
Sometimes phobias are irrational and have no logic, so find logic and use it as an antidote. Don’t let fears control your confidence. Take help from statistics and facts and vanish away all your illogical fears.
Learn The Basis Of Flying:
To effectively beat your flying fears, you have to bone up on how the process goes. Learn as much as facts as you can and fill your head with knowledge than with worries. This will help you fight with the negative thoughts, and will help you vanish away all fears.
Besides, if you know how planes are built and how they work, your “ what if the plane engine fail and what if the wings getting cracks” will fly away.
Get Onto The Plane With The Right Mindset:
Anxiety often feeds off “If’s and what,” but once you are boarding the plane with the right mindset, you can easily curb your fears. Be determined and think of travelling in the plane as an exciting game, rather than considering it as a chore. Once you change your mindset, your motivation will increase, and your ability to deal with the inevitable setbacks will also increase.
Turbulence Is Not A Bomb:
Demystify turbulence and know that it’s not alarming and is not going to crash the airplane. Instead, it’s something that is caused by the regular routine shifts in the airflow that turn off birds. Most of the turbulence that often people know is quite minimal as compared to the one that airplane takes.
Learn The Safety Features:
Being familiar with the things like what you can do in case of emergencies or if the plane is designed to deal with emergencies will foster confidence in you. Learn how you can bring yourself out of the stressful loop and fortify yourself with things like safety measures and more.
Seek For Professional Help:
Address your fears to professionals and seek help from them. The professional will do fear of flying hypnotherapy and will work on strengthening the cognitive skills to overcome phobias and other fears. Besides, the expert will help you deal with anxiety to minimize the intensity that triggers fears like flying on a plane.
Inspect Cockpit:
Pilots often feel happy when people visit the cockpit to greet them and to look around. But don’t do this if the plane is in the air. However, if you are the first one to board the plane, you can ask the attendant to have a peek of the cockpit. This will boost your confidence and will create a trust that everything in the control panel is safe and sound.
Find Which Seat You Want:
Aisle, window or middle, find which seat makes you feel comfortable. While the aisle seat allows you to glance at the things happening in pathways, the window seat will create a sense of place making you feel that you are close to the ground. Also, the middle seat offers comfort and will give you the support of two armrests.
Breathe& Meditate:
Try breathing exercises to relax your mind during the or before the flight. Use the 5-3-5 method, i.e., breathe for 5 minutes, hold for 3 seconds and repeat the process until you become relaxed and calm. You can also meditate with your eyes closed for some time. To do this, simply close your eyes and picture something positive and peaceful.
Practice And Fly:
To not let your fear return, keep on board regular flights. You can start from short flights, a one-round trip and then moving two hours-long trips. Keep up with relaxation practices as it will help you stay calm during flights.
Fares are in your mind, and only you can control them. So, fight with them, normalize your flying experience and de-escalate your dreaded and panic moments.