Fear Fest: Flying. Or As We Say “Tempting God”.
OCTOBER 8th, Flying
“There is an art, or rather a knack, to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
-Douglas Adams
Hello once again folks. Today’s fear dates back to two brothers, a bicycle shop, and a dream. Flying can be a fun experience. It’s too bad that its ruined by being a business. Cramped seats, bad service, lost luggage, security hassles and crying babies. It’s a wonder anyone chooses to fly.
September 11th, 2001, the world changed forever. For some people, this is the ultimate validation of their fears. Fear of flying, sometimes called aerophobia, is a funny thing. It’s not the act of flying that is frightening, but what could happen that concerns most aerophobes. Some people are claustrophobic and can’t handle the conditions, other people fear terrorism, and some people suffer from motion sickness.
I can’t say what it is that most people who fear to fly dread most. I love to fly. However, I have two close friends that don’t share my view of the skies. One of them grits hit teeth, buries his head in a movie player of some sort, and pretends he’s on the subway. The other has a panic attack and will not step foot on the plane. While these two people are attempting to perform the same act, they each fear something different. The first friend hates the feeling of being high up. It makes him dizzy and nauseous. So he uses escapism to deal with it. The second friend fears death, and that’s not as easy to shrug off. If you climb in a metal tube that you know will be 5 miles in the air, and you’re sure you’re going to die, escapism is probably not for you.
THE ANSWER: The best thing to do is identify the underling fear. If its claustrophobia, deal with that first before attempting to deal with aerophobia. If its motion sickness, you can probably find a pill to take to curb it. If its fear of death, research. As we learned earlier, statistically speaking you are more likely to be hit by an asteroid, then to die in a plane crash. If none of those work, there is always hypnosis.