I need to get over my fear of flying. I realize that it's an incredibly irrational fear, that airplanes are safe, and that planes don't just fall out of the air. I also know HOW airplanes fly, and that they WANT to stay up in the air. They're designed for flight, not for being on the ground. I know that an airplane can function perfectly fine even if one of the engines fails (that's why they put two on engines on them in the first place). I know that, unless a series of huge mistakes and terrible consequences line up perfectly, that airplane is going to get me safely from one location to another.
I have flown approximately 18 times in my lifetime (I'm including layovers and return trips in this number). That means that I have been part of 18 successful takeoffs, 18 successful landings, I have taken off in one hail storm and flown over about 5 gigantic storm clouds with lots of turbulence. I have circled the Chicago O-Hare airport for 30 minutes because the pilot believed the landing gear wasn't working. I have flown a red-eye while seated behind a team of noisy high-school baseball players. I have flown without my parents more often than with them. I have taken the 30-minute flight from Erie to Detroit on an itty bitty prop plane. And I have lived through every single flight. And yet, every time I am about to embark on an airplane-related journey, I get really nervous and antsy the entire month before the trip. I've used my fear of flying as an excuse not to study abroad and not to visit far-away relatives.
Why am I writing this, do you ask? Because on March 5th, I will be boarding an airplane in Pittsburgh and flying to New Orleans for a spring break trip. At the end of the week I will have to fly home. I also may have to fly down to Virginia Tech in order to interview for a grad school position (haven't decided if it's worth the ~8 hour drive one way for just one weekend...), and I may have to fly to Indiana to go apartment-hunting for the summer (again, I could drive, but a combined 14 hours in a car in one weekend does not sound pleasant). So that's lots of flying, and lots of stressing out for me. For no reason at all.
Anybody else have any irrational fears?
A Lighter Soul
11 years ago
3 comments:
Spiders. :(
Spiders. :(
I am not a huge fan of flying neccesarily either. I especially hated flying by myself to my friend Robin's wedding. I had 2 lay overs on the way to Oregon for her wedding and one on the way back at Chicago O'Hare that was supposed to be 2 hours and ended up being a 4 hour lay-over. That was frustrating. But God is good and He provided people for me to talk to on all of my flights out to Oregon. One of the guys I sat beside was AWESOME! He was a dairy farmer in Vermont headed to Colorado to go snow-boarding with some buddies. We probably talked for 2 hours of the 3 hour flight. So God is good and has a way of reaching us whenever we need it. Perhaps He will do the same for you. My only advice is to at least bring a book and/or iPod. Probably both would be your best bet. Having finished a book and still having 3 hours for a lay-over was not fun. But God is good and will make for safe flights.
My irrational fear: not having a family some day. I really want kids, and well, Lord willing, even if Aaron and I can't have kids, we will try to adopt. So it's somewhat irrational.
I love you MollMoll.
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