Flying is not the ideal way of traveling for a significant proportion of the population (image: https://www.pexels.com/photo/flight-flying-plane-air-travel-59519/)

2017 has been the best year for the aviation industry for two reasons: it has been a year in which no passenger-carrying jets have crashed, and when most people have flown to destinations all around the world. If you are anything like 25 percent of the US population, however, it is likely that you will take this news with a pinch of salt. This is the proportion of citizens that has admitted to being afraid of flying, and with the media regularly showing horrific images of plane crashes, it is a surprise only a quarter of the American population feels this way.

While it is normal to feel slightly nervous about taking off and landing, anyone who has been on a rollercoaster will recall the butterflies they have felt in the stomach when the ride goes down, having a life-limiting phobia that stops you from traveling the world by plane is something you should address sooner or later. Otherwise, you will be stranded in your hometown or traveling only to places that are accessible by a land vehicle, and that is no fun!

Here, we share a few tips so that you can put your mind at rest ahead of you or your family boarding a plane.

Meditate

While meditation will not solve all your fear-related problems, it will help you see the bigger picture for you to cope better with your nervousness surrounding this accessible means of travel. Meditation is no magic tool to remove your fear of flying, but it is a resource you can use and will help you quiet your mind from all that fear talk. Do you find yourself playing the same thought over and over again in your mind before boarding a plane? Are you fidgety when flying? Do you anticipate horrible scenarios in the days before flying? If this is the case, it is time to give meditation some thought. All you will need to do is find a quiet area where you can relax and sit with your eyes closed while you feel your body inhale and exhale. This meditation app will help you with your practice.

Get legal representation

This might sound too formal, but you might be surprised at how much calmer getting legal representation might make you feel. In 2016, 217 people lost their lives in seven fatal crashes, compared to 471 in 2015. While air travel is getting safer with technology having contributed massively to the aviation industry, fatalities are still a reality, and some people are taking measures to ensure they are covered in the unlikely event of an air travel-related death or major accident. “The risks to civil aviation remain high as shown by the seriousness of some of the non-fatal accidents,” said Senior Aviation Consultant Adrian Young. Slack & Davis have represented hundreds of passengers who have been involved in complex aviation crashes.

Do some good research

If boarding a plane fills you with horror, there is something else you can do to calm your mind. That is doing as much research as possible about your fear of flying and trying to figure out where it stems from. Fear is an irrational thing, and we are all afraid of one thing or another, but we can usually find the reason behind this. If it makes you feel more at ease, you could even research the type of airplane that you will be flying on and gather facts around air travel and what allows for planes to be able to fly, etc. Knowledge is the best tool against fear, and this will be a beneficial exercise for you. While you won’t be able to control the plane in question and fly this to your destination, you can still learn as much as possible about the act of flying and hopefully realise that air travel is still the safest mode of transportation there is.

Take a course

Spending your hard-earned cash on combating your fear of flying might not be an ideal scenario for you right now, but experts in the field say this is one of the best methods to get over the uncomfortable feeling you get every time you are about to board a plane. These courses are available all over the country, and they consist of workshops that will help you feel at ease with the idea of air travel. Facts surrounding the aviation industry will be given to you in an effort to appease your worries, and these will be delivered by experts with years of experience in the field. “Fear of flying affects all ages, all levels of wealth, all levels of flying experience” claims the Fear of Flying Clinic, and with this irrational behaviour manifesting itself at any time in our lives, a course to combat it will be one of the best investments you ever make.

Whether you need to fly for business, leisure or to visit family and friends in a faraway destination, if fear of flying is stopping you from taking any of these trips, it is time to put a stop to it and become confident in your abilities to remain calm while up in the air. Embracing your fear and enjoying the ride will not only allow you to visit new destinations and revisit old ones, but it will also make you feel more confident and able to conquer any other challenges that may come your way.

Living in fear is not a way to live, and you know it. Start 2018 by confronting your deepest worries surrounding air travel so that you can broaden your horizons and live a life beyond your wildest dreams. You are entitled to a life based on freedom and so are your friends and family. If you would like to see how this is done, try the tips above to overcome your fear of flying this year. You will never look back.