Agree: people do not tend to fly. However, this is not a reason to fall into an anxious state at the airport or refuse to fly at all. What to do if every plane trip is a real test for you?
I have traveled a lot and have never been afraid to fly – until one moment. Once, in order to knock out a place for myself at the beginning of the cabin (where it is quieter and shakes less), I cheated a little — I said at the registration that I was afraid to fly:
“Sit me down, please, closer to the cockpit, otherwise I’m scared.”
And it worked! I was given a seat in the front rows, and I began to regularly talk about my own fears at the registration desk in order to get the place I want … Until I caught myself acquiring aerophobia.
I convinced others that I was afraid of flying, and in the end I became really afraid. So I made a discovery: this function in my head is controllable. And if I was able to convince myself to be afraid, then this process can be reversed.
Reason for fear
I propose to understand where this fear originates. Yes, we do not tend to fly. But by nature, we are not able to move on land at a speed of 80 km / h. At the same time, we easily relax in the car, but for some reason, traveling by plane disturbs many of us. And this is provided that air crashes happen hundreds of times less often than car accidents.
It’s time to admit that the environment has changed drastically in the last hundred years, and our brains can’t always keep up with these changes. We do not face the problem of surviving until spring, as before our ancestors. There will be enough food until the next harvest, there is no need to harvest firewood, the bear will not bite …
There is no objective reason for fear of flying
In a word, there are fewer objectively life-threatening factors. But there are just as many brain cells dedicated to counting and analyzing potential threats. Hence our anxiety over trifles and, in particular, the fear of the unusual — for example, before flying (unlike car trips, they do not happen so often, and it is not possible to get used to them). That is, under this fear there is no objective background.
Of course, if you suffer from aerophobia, this idea will not help you. However, it paves the way for further exercises.
boring scenario
How is anxiety formed? The cells responsible for analyzing negative scenarios generate the worst possible scenario. A person who is afraid to fly, when he sees an airplane, does not think that this is a miracle of technology, How long work and talent has been invested in it … He sees the crash, in colors he imagines a possible tragedy.
A friend of mine can’t watch her child sledding down a hill. Her imagination draws terrible pictures for her: a child is knocked down, he crashes into a tree, hits his head. Blood, hospital, horror… Meanwhile, the child slides down the hill with delight over and over again, but this does not convince her.
Our task is to replace the “fatal” video with such a video sequence in which events develop as boringly as possible. We get on the plane, we buckle up, someone sits next to us. We take a magazine, leaf through, listen to instructions, turn off electronic devices. The plane is taking off, we are watching a movie, talking to a neighbor. Maybe communication will be the first step towards a romantic relationship? No, it will be as boring as the whole flight! We have to go to the toilet, but the neighbor fell asleep … And so on ad infinitum, until the very landing, when we finally go to the city of arrival.
The state that most powerfully resists anxiety is boredom.
Think over this video in advance and turn it on at the first alarm signal, scroll from beginning to end. The state that most powerfully resists anxiety is not some abstract calmness, but boredom! Drive yourself into boredom deeper and deeper, scrolling in your head a video about which there is nothing to even tell — it is so standard, faceless, insipid.
You will be surprised How long more power you will have at the end. The need to worry eats up a lot of energy, and by saving it, you will arrive at your destination with much more energy.