How I Cured My Fear Of Flying Using The Internet

How To Rewire Your Subconscious Mind Through Media

I actually got off the plane this time.

Sure, I’d had anxiety about flying before. I’d get pre-flight jitters, days, weeks before my flight. I’d wake up on flight day with a pit in my stomach. The taxi to the airport, checking in my luggage, going through security, waiting outside the gate ⁠ — throughout this whole process a quiet terror would build inside me.

The worst part, walking down that long corridor ⁠towards the plane door, felt like a walk into potential death. On many occasions, I had paused in that corridor. Hesitating. Considering the possibility of turning around and walking away. After all, should the plane crash, turning around right then would save my life. But in the end, I always won the mental battle and stepped onto that plane.

Not this time. On a short flight in Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, I lost my fight with flight anxiety. After getting on the plane and taking my seat, I had begun to panic. The internal dialogue goes something like this:

Me 1: What if this plan crashes?

Me 2: Don’t be silly.

Me 1: Has the plane been checked properly?