Flight anxiety

[Sheeyore]

I have a flight booked that is 8 months away! 8 months! And yet worrying about is taking up a lot of my time. For context, I’m a nervous flyer though I’ve done it before but this has got a lot worse since I had kids. I panic about something going wrong and me never seeing them again. Im torn between “you’re ridiculous and can’t let this dictate your life” to “it’s not worth all this worry.” But I’m doing it for somebody else (a family member who really wants me to be with her) and i don’t want to let her down either. I should never have got myself into the situation knowing how insane I am, but I’m here now. Help! Would you cancel?

You've got 8 months to either wind yourself up into a frenzy or to deal with this (and then spend 6 months looking forward to it). Speak to a local hypnotherapist who's worked with FoF.

Or talk to Howard Cooper who is not only a great hypnotherapist (and a lovely guy) but who also worked with Virgin Airlines on their FoF course.

Thank you, will look into that right now

Book a fear of flying course.

I have no advice but I can give you solidarity! In fact I’ll beat your ridiculousness! I have a flight booked for 9 months away and I’m already worried about it. I hate flying but want my children to have holidays so I have to suck it up really. I try not to let them see the anxiety but I can admit I’m not very fun to be around in airports.

I’m the same and a few things have helped me and a few things haven’t! I will share what worked.

hypnotherapy did not help!

however, there is a Facebook group called Lovefly which is really helpful. There is also a lovefly podcast which has loads of episodes discussing lots of different aspects of flying which I also found really helpful- you can download episodes to listen to on the plane which also helped. If you start with the podcasts now you will have loads of time to work on your mindset and mentality.

I think acknowledging that this is a mindset issue which can be changed is also really helpful. I just keep telling myself this is a totally routine activity which happens all the time very safely every day all over the world.

I have to do puzzles like sudoku etc to distract myself, as well as wearing headphones to distract myself during takeoff and turbulence which are the worst parts for me. I find the anticipation of waiting to get on the plane worse than the actual flight.

Earlier this year I was able to do a long hall holiday which involved 7 flights in total including 3 internal flights in Africa on smaller planes which seemed impossible to me a few years ago.

Some airlines offer fear of flying support, I believe EasyJet is one of them, BA another.

You could also visit a therapist or see a GP about getting an anti anxiety medication.

There’s loads of great Instagram accounts by pilots who make videos explaining all the different noises, the weather, what they’re doing in the cockpit etc. it’s fascinating stuff. I wasn’t overly keen on flying but I have no problem with it now that I can rationalise it all in my head and actually understand what’s going on.

Such great advice here, thank you

@allymccoistdo you remember what the podcast is called?

I too was going to suggest booking a fear of flying course. I don't think you need to attend the one associated with the airline you booked with.

https://www.fearlessflyer.easyjet.com/
https://flyingwithconfidence.com/
https://www.virginatlantic.com/inspiration/your-journey-with-us/flying-without-fear

It’s the LoveFly podcast with Paul Tizzard

Captain Keith

I found this website really helpful.

I can't remember if it was on here or Tik Tok where I saw it but listening to 'Come on Eileen' during take off, landing or turbulence is the solution. Apparently it's impossible to feel scared with that belting out in your ears!! Worth a try.

Haha that’s brilliant @Dunkerquetodover