Remember: 1. When flying is viewed as a threat, panicky feelings are often the result. Don't worry: these are normal--albeit exaggerated--reactions. Avoidance or escape only keep the problem going; they do not help resolve it.
2. Nothing worse can happen to you. All that follows anxiety is relaxation.
3. Focus on the here-and-now, and what is actually happening. The future will take care of itself.
4. Monitor your breathing and make sure your pattern is slow and relatively deep--as opposed to fast and shallow. Don't hold your breath.
5. Adopt the view that everything is normal unless you are told absolutely and incontrovertibly otherwise by those who know, i.e. the professional flight crew.
6. Give yourself permission to be here. Adopt the view that you have nothing better to do than go through with the experience. Remember the reasons which made you decide to confront the situation in the first place.
7. Feelings follow behaviour rather than the reverse: you have to attend to what happens on a flight to feel better about it. So, for example, look out of the cabin window in order to become comfortable about it. Don't wait to feel in the mood to do so.
8. Take positive action. Start to relax as soon as you feel any signs of tension or anxiety, or if for any reason the level increases.
9. Don't jump to conclusions. What is the hard evidence on which you are basing your negative views? Are there alternative explanations for what you are thinking?
10. At the end of the trip, note down how it really was--NOT what you think it should have been like. Highlight what helped, and what you need to attend to next time. On your next flight, take a brief list of ?personal statements?. Learning to feel comfortable about flying is a skill like any other, and so practice is necessary to get it completely right. Taking another flight within a few weeks is likely to speed up the process.
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