Article Surfing Archive

Fear, Phobia, Dread, Panic, call it what you will, everyone of us has known what it is like to have been afraid of a situation we have found ourselves having to confront at one time or another.

It may be a fear of flying, heights, public speaking or a myriad of other things that can ruin our lives, and that of our family and friends as well.

But what is it that makes us have these feelings? Why are we scared of some scenarios but not others? Why isn't everyone afraid of the same things? Well obviously not everyone is the same, we all think and behave differently therefore deal with situations differently as well.

So having said that how can we overcome our fears, the key word is THINK because believe it or believe it not we all have the ability to control what we think. We can turn negative thoughts into positive ones, making us feel more confident and able to deal with life and all it can throw at us.

Take the fear of lying for instance. It probably isn't the thought of actually flying that scares us, it is more likely to be something that is associated with flying that causes the problem. Crashing and not flying is the obvious example but it can be something much less scary that sends us into panic mode.

In you own mind picture yourself going on a trip involving flying (or any other scenario that upsets you) and you will break the experience down into segments and discover which part of the experience it is that really causes the problem.

Maybe it is arriving late and missing the flight, crowded airports, having to deal with strangers, the claustrophobic feeling of the plane or even a dislike of where you are flying to or going to meet or do when you arrive.

Once you have done this you will find that you have just one or maybe two small phobias compared with the huge one you had when you started and you can now begin to do something about them. You will probably feel more confident about the situation already.

The big bonus is that you don't have to do this by yourselves, there is help out there to guide you through it. Remember you did not have these fears when you were born, we have all seen how fearless young children are, all you need is to retrain your brain and rid yourselves of these irrational thoughts.

Strangely enough just after writing this article I was watching a popular TV programme about airports and it showed a clip which endorsed much of what I had just written. It showed an elderly gentleman boarding a flight to take him away on holiday following the recent death of his wife.

Once onboard he felt sick, dizzy and claustrophobic and being confused he decided to get off of the plane a report how he felt to the girls who had looked after him back at the booking in desk. Other passengers seeing him get off started to panic thinking he may have left a bomb behind and the pilot had no choice but to evacuate the plane and have it security searched before taking off.

The truth was discovered when the gentleman reached the check in desk but it was too late to prevent the flight being delayed. Prior to his wife's death they had regularly flown together quite happily but this was the first flight the man had taken alone since his wife had passed away. The memory of his wife and their travels together reinforced his feelings of grief and loneliness, which together triggered off the panic attack. He was unable to resume his flight and had to postpone his holiday until he had received treatment for his symptoms.