So when I first found the site, months and months ago, I literally cried, I just never thought so many people felt the same why as I did about flying. See I always thought it was one extreme or the other, either people were totally fine with flying, or they were absolutely freaked out. I was somewhere in the middle, depending on the day and the thoughts in my head. So, I was relieved to see that my fears where quite normal...
My biggest fear was I would have a huge anxiety attack once the plane's door was closed and I would be pretty much trapped. I have a history of panic attacks so I know just worrying about one can bring one on, lol. I know that if a panic attack doesn't necessarily come from one fear, so I would have to keep all my thoughts positive and logical. I didn't know exactly how planes worked, so there was a lot of uncertainty there. And I was quite concerned leaving our two children home for two weeks. I know that isn't related to flying, BUT the lessons I was taught in SOAR easily carry over to that area as well.
Believing knowledge is power, I knew I had to learn as much as I could about flying so I could logically reason with myself.
I once I understood how the plane works, I wouldn't be worried about random thoughts, like the plane falling from the sky. So I started listening to the SOAR program and reading the posts on this board. I
started taking note of all the planes that fly over my home, and amazingly none fell from the sky, they just carried on along their way... I made a point of
acknowledging when friends and family flew to places, and they all came home safe and sound. I even made a point of offering to pick people up at the airport
so I could watch the people, employees and customers, all safe and happy. I arrived a little early to watch the planes take off and land, A+ all the way.
So leading up to my flight, which was four flights in total, Edmonton to Jamaica with a stopover in Toronto both ways, I practiced the strength training.
The anxiety up to the flight wasn't bad at all. A few times I realized how calm I was and I was so thrilled!! The
evening before we left I started experiencing a lot of anxiety. I grabbed my Ipod and did the strength training
exercises. That helped immediately. One time driving to the airport (we have a
three hour trip) I used the 'I see 5 things, I feel 5 things, I hear 5 things, and that helped as well.
During the first boarding I started getting that panicky fleeing sensation, and it seemed like I couldn't use any of the exercises. I told myself that I knew I would not be backing out of the flight. I wanted to go on vacation with my husband and I was going regardless, so why fight it. There was nothing out of the ordinary, everyone was doing what they should be, so why worry.
I was fine on the flights, honestly and truthfully fine. I had total confidence in the plane itself and the crew. I was tired and even nodded off a few times. We had some turbulence during each flight. Once the pilot even announced that we would be going through some bad turbulence, is wasn't that bad either. I did watch my glass of water a few times, and it wasn't even close to spilling. Lifting my feet a couple of times helped too.
Somewhere in Captain Tom's program, he said, don't add anything and don't minus anything. As soon as I heard
that, that became the number one thought in my head. Even when I started worrying about my kids, don't add anything and don't minus anything. There
is no sense in worrying about what might happen, wait until it happens. I used it during my vacation when we were about to try totally new things. I also
learned to separate excitement from anxiety, which from me is huge!!
Thanks to everyone on this board and Captain Tom, I loved my holiday and would jump on another plane tomorrow if it meant I could go on another vacation.
Sorry this is so long, have a great day 
Take care,
Susie
