Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Flying

The last flight I was on was between the coasts several years ago. It was the first time I flew in five years or so and it went pretty smoothly. I remember being somewhat anxious and I couldn't sleep a damn on the red eye home, but other than that it wasn't bad.

I'm about to fly west again this afternoon and for some reason the anxiety is really building up this time. I'm writing this to try to rid myself of some of it because it helps to just talk it out sometimes, so bear with me.

I'm not sure what gets me anxious. I think, since I don't fly that often, it seems a very unnatural experience to me. There is definately a control issue involved. And it also triggers some of my anxiety about being stuck in a situation I can't move around freely in. I'm not sure that any particular fear of crashing or such really enters into it that much, surely a bit but it's not what really drives my anxiety. It has to be the 'moving freely' trigger more than anything else I think. That stinks, I thought I was more or less past that.

Oh well, now that I kinda pin pointed it I feel better. Yay!

4 comments:

Silent Joe said...

Just keep saying, we are all gonna die and if you are questioned about it, say "One day we all die. Everyone dies"

Hey, who knows, this might be your destiny... since you believe in a pre-determined outcome, no matter what you think, say or do will change the fact of if the plane will land safely.

sucks believing in destiny. In my world, the skill of the pilot determins if we land safely, whether at an airport or highway.. not destiny.

Ok I probably made it worse. Sorry.

- Joe

Silent Joe said...

ok not pre-determination, that is fate. But what if your destiny was to end up in a corn field with a plane wrapped around you. Its your destiny.. no reason to fret.

- Joe

SuperMel said...

You are probably on the plane by now, but my thoughts...you seem aware of what's going on internally, and that's half the battle. And you made a plan which included plenty of stuff to watch/play during flight - smart. You could also consider using deep slow breathing during takeoff/touchdown - it's helped me in the past.

Ryan said...

Nothing to it. I was a fricken sardine and could barely move my legs but I had almost no anxiety the entire flight.

Yay!