I speak to many passengers that are scared to talk about their fear of flying. They feel a little embarrassed, and ashamed. ESPECIALLY MEN! If you feel this way, take note of this statistic;

It’s been estimated that up to 40% of the population suffer from a fear of flying in one form or another. If you are sat on a flight with 150 people, I’d bet you’d find at least 20 other people in the same situation as you. Just like you, they are sat on the aircraft suffering in silence feeling too stupid to share their feelings.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE………

But, how do you know you have a fear of flying?

A simple way of putting would be; if you have any kind of nervous feeling about getting on a flight, then you have a fear of flying. Now, that’s a big generalisation, but it’s also a relatively accurate one.

Natural reactions to fear can be all, or a mixture of, the following;

• Racing heart
• Heavy breathing
• Tightness or pain in the chest
• Trembling/shaking
• Shortness of breath
• Headache
• Tingling in finger tips
• Muscle pains or weakness
• Dizziness
• Difficulty in breathing
• Abdominal discomfort
• Upset stomach
• Irritability
• Anger
• Rudeness!!!

This fear can lead to severe anxiety or panic attacks.

It’s important to note that fear IS natural – and essential for our safety. If we never felt fear we wouldn’t last long in this world as it prevents us from making crazy decisions, or feeling over-confident. Fear is simply a natural response made by your brain to warn us of danger through the release of adrenaline.

Despite the brain being so powerful, it’s not perfect. It has to be trained by you. Your sub-conscious mind can make mistakes and it’s your job to train it to behave the way you want. Obviously that’s easier said than done, but you will never overcome your fear if you continue to allow your sub-conscious mind to associate flying with danger.

I will be covering techniques to use in the future. What’s important now, is that you stop feeling ashamed, or embarrassed by your fear. It’s very common, and you can overcome it.

Fear is natural – you just have to learn when to utilise it……..

The following articles are related to the one you have just read

• Help For Fear of Flying: Aerodynamics Explained Many flying fears stem from a lack of understanding of aerodynamics, and how the aircraft stays in the air. In this article I’m going to...
• Disorientation And Your Fear of Flying When sat in a car you don’t usually become disorientated because you can see everything around you. That is until you find yourself in thick...
• The Onset Of Flight Anxiety Problems A person on the SOAR Message Board writes, “Can one person fly for almost twenty-nine years with no turbulence and no fear and then just...
• Free Fear of Flying Help: Tip 1 This is the first in a series of free fear of flying help tips that I will be writing here at Flying Fear. To make...
• Fear of Flying: Hypnosis Can hypnosis really cure your fear of flying? I’m sure that question has crossed your mind several times, and many nervous flyers have reported success....