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Overcoming Fear

Way back in 1999 I was on a plane that did everything but crash. I swore that if I got off the damn thing, I would never fly again. It took me 14 years to get back on a plane.

There are two ways to do it and they should go hand in hand.

First you want to learn as much as possible about the subject. Read about it, talk to people about it, watch videos, ask experts. Anything and everything that helps you lear more on the subject matter is valuable. The goal is to take as much mystery out of it as possible. The more we know about something, the less we are afraid of it.

Second, you have to expose yourself to the source of fear in small manageable steps.

How did I get back on a plane? I regularly watched videos from inside airline cabins. Takeoffs, mid flight, landings, videos of the wings flexing, turbulence, etc. At first it seemed silly, sometimes anxiety causing and generally useless. Until…something started to change. First, the people posting these videos tend to be either pilots or people who like to travel. They LOVE flying. That happiness they associate with flying slowly started to permeate my thoughts.

Second, I noticed myself seeing the takeoffs as exciting beginnings to new destinations. At first I thought “ok, this is weird. Is it real? Am I actually thinking of – and getting excited about – flying? What the fuck is this dark magic?” No magic. I was exposing myself to the source of my fear and finding out that it’s not so scary. It might actually be pretty cool. Imagine the freedom of shedding a fear? Wow. Just wow.

Keep it simple, start out small, expose yourself to the fear regularly and always keep in mind that “hey it’s ok to be scared, as long as I keep doing this, the fear will eventually lessen and perhaps even disappear.”