How to get over fear of flying

+41 votes
asked Apr 9, 2018 in Cars & Transportation by FredaMelocco (260 points)
edited Sep 12, 2018
I’ve always had a terrible fear of flying, so bad that I get nightmares about it. I have a huge business trip coming up though that I have to take a plane for, and unfortunately I have no other choice. I’m absolutely terrified and really want to make this trip as stress free as possible. How do I get over my fear of flying?​

4 Answers

+21 votes
answered Jan 6, 2019 by Kristi256861 (350 points)
edited Aug 6, 2019
It might sound silly, but learning about flying can actually help you get over your fear of flying. It’s proven that education about your fears can help ease anxiety about them. Try learning about how planes fly, what causes turbulence, and what all the different sounds and bumps during a plane ride mean. Doing these things before your plane trip can really help calm you down when they happen because you’ll understand what’s going on and realize there’s nothing to worry about. You could even go as far as using one of those flight simulators to put things into your own control and see what flying is really all about. Once you’ve done it yourself then it might ease your mind.
commented Oct 12, 2015 by ArleenLin083 (160 points)
Thanks for sharing your experience on how to get over fear of flying.
+9 votes
answered Jan 17, 2019 by JuliannMilne (330 points)
edited Jul 11, 2019
So how to get over fear of flying… Sometimes we worry even more than we should about our fears because we’re afraid of how other people will react and what they will think. So help yourself by letting other people know what’s going on! It might not help you get over your fear of flying, but letting the people around you on the plane know that you have a fear of flying and informing them on anything they can do to help can make the plane ride more pleasant. This is a perfectly normal fear that plenty of people experience, so don’t worry about being judged because everyone is likely to understand. When you open up you might find that someone near you has the same fear, and the two of you can help each other conquer it together.
+7 votes
answered Oct 2, 2018 by PhoebeChampi (340 points)
edited Feb 26, 2019
Try to identify what it is about flying that makes you afraid. If you can figure out what triggers your anxiety, then you can start to work on it and get over your fear of flying. Once you know why you are afraid, you can take preventative actions against it or makes yourself more comfortable.
+6 votes
answered Jun 11, 2018 by LottieGrigsb (290 points)
edited Dec 20, 2018
A lot of the time we get worked up more by just thinking about things than actually doing them. So in order to get over your fear of flying, just anticipate your anxiety and realize that you’re making it a bigger deal than it is. Once you’re actually in the air and realize everything is okay all of that anxiety very well might go away. However, thinking about it too much beforehand is just going to make you even more worried.
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