Don’t let your fear eclipse the Aurora Borealis
Aurora Borealis just outside my plane window on flight to the UK, September 2022
Throughout my childhood and well into adulthood, I was a fearful flyer. No matter many time or how many ways it was explained to me that flying was safe.
“Arla, the pilot wants to get home, too”
“It’s safer to fly than to drive”
“You have a better chance of being struck by lightening than being in a plane crash”
Once, upon landing, a flight attendant even said in his announcement, "You’ve just finished the safest part of your journey. Please drive carefully to your final destination.”
None of it mattered. I just couldn’t get over it.
When I did fly, I was claustrophobic. Anxious. On high alert. Miserable. Any petrol smell, any noise, any change in the flight attendant’s expression, sent me into a panic. I didn’t want to talk to anyone or eat anything (they served actual meals back then - even in coach class). I gripped the top of the seat in front of me and white-knuckled it all the way. I worked very hard to keep that plane in the air.
In my early 30s, I was a “road warrior” (don’t ask), first with an IT consulting company and then as a software salesperson. I HAD to fly.
And I was petrified.
So much so, that I would look for any excuse to transport myself in any way other than flying. One time it was snowing badly on an evening when I was supposed to fly to Minneapolis for a client meeting. Wait, fly right through the snow?? The idea was so panic-inducing, anxiety-creating, and fear-causing, that I made myself sick. No. No thank YOU.
I called my boss to tell him I was going to take a train that evening instead. My boss said, “are you crazy? You’d rather spend all night on a train rather than an hour flying?”
Yes. Yes, I would.
And I did.
So, I spent a lot of flying time on drugs - Propranolol, Xanax, etc. - which helped me get through the flights (barely) - but they made me so tired and out of it that when I arrived, I was sleepy right through the business meetings I had flown to attend to begin with.
I felt ashamed. I was embarrassed. I beat myself up for this personal failure.
I have since learned that my thoughts about flying were responsible for my fear and anxiety. My fear was responsible for the behaviors and actions I took - all of them. And the result I created was to work my life around flying rather than work flying into my life. And learning that has been life-changing.
However, back in my 30s, I was fortunate to have found an amazing practitioner of “Thought Field Therapy,” (created by the late Roger Callahan and carried on by his wife and co-creator Joanne Callahan, www.rogercallahan.com) also referred to as “TFT.” It is commonly known as “tapping.” For me, the practice was specifically to “clear” my fear of flying. Thank you, Dr. Larry Stoller.
After just 3 TFT sessions with Dr. Larry Stoller, and then performing the tapping regimen he prescribed just before getting on a plane, I ACTUALLY OVERCAME THE FEAR!
Today (and for the past 30ish years), I am a different flyer. I love it! I look forward to it! I travel all over.
I fly with heavenly, peaceful abandon!
The picture at the top of this post is one I took last year as we flew from Chicago to Dublin on our way to see our son at school in Wales. Yes, that is indeed Aurora Borealis. It showed itself to me while everyone else on the plane was sleeping or otherwise occupied. It was there just for me and my husband to see. Those dancing lights lasted more than 30 minutes and had a profound effect on me. I still get dazzled by the memory, just from looking at the photos.
I shudder to think I would have missed seeing this miracle had I not gotten over the fear. What else might I have missed out on if I hadn’t given TFT a try (‘cause I gotta admit that in the beginning, the whole thing seemed pretty kooky).
Recently, I re-discovered tapping through Callahan Techniques, Ltd. and an awesome online practitioner, Brad Yates (tapwithbrad.com). I’ve studied it from the other side and am so excited to share the tapping sequences with fearful flyers who wish to clear that fear. (This may work for other fears, too. To try it for something else, simply change the words “fear of flying” to whatever is holding you back.)
Watch the video here
(In reviewing the video, I see that I am looking down a lot - particularly during the 9 Gamut sequence. Please excuse me for that. I took my glasses off and couldn’t easily read the material I wanted to share.)
I hope you’ll try tapping for yourself to reduce or eliminate your fear of flying. And if you do, write me and let me know how it works for you.
Want more help to learn the tapping sequence to clear fearful flying? I offer individual sessions via Zoom for that personal touch. Just click Contact at the top of my website and write me.
Yours in comfy flight,
Life Coach Arla
