Facing you fears

I’ve never really considered myself to be a fearful person. But there is one fear that for some reason seems to get worse and worse as time passes. Being an expat comes with pros and cons;

Pros: 

- Experiencing a different culture not as a tourist but a resident

- Meeting interesting people

Cons:
- Being far from family and friends

- Not having access to luxuries like Woolies food

…and flying A LOT.

We fly home(South Africa) about 3times a year, we fly overseas on trips, we fly to Zanzibar for holidays and recently I flew to Tanga, IN A SIX SEATER.

Every book you read about conquering fears say FACE THEM, and you would think by now I would have conquered it! But it seems to get worse, palms sweating, heart racing I always wonder (in absolute terror) as the plane takes off that if we were made to fly would we not have wings? (ok and if we were made to breath under water we would have gills, and I like diving but that’s besides the point!) 

Luckily I have discovered most people are a little bit apprehensive about flying ,but my fear just seems to get worse and more irrational! Frangipani’s dating The Pilot who assured her these small planes are the safest but where is the truth in that after all light planes crashes in South Africa recently? 

She had one good travelling tip, apparently Megan Fox is also terrified of flying and her trick is to listen to Britney Spears because she can’t die listening to ‘Hit me baby one more time’!

When we fly to Zanzibar we usually fly 16 seater  and as we walked onto the runway and a 6seater taxied past I joked to my colleague that I would have a heart attack in one of those, just to find out that is what had been booked…so out came the rescues…

...cue clammy hands, shortness of breath and racing heart. 

But I was determined to stay professional, although my first instinct was to run screaming for the nearest taxi!Inside the plane was small and dingy with windows that open like house windows and the pilot stuck his elbow out the GP people do Decembers in Natal!I almost fainted when the engine(ONE) started up because the whole plane rattle and it sounded like a lawnmover!

45minutes in this??

As we took off(imagine a flying bus) I kept repeating; “you are professional, enjoy it, when will you ever fly in a 6seater again(hopefully never!) and you can’t die listening to Britney Spears…I packed the ipod Frangipani, but never switched it on, was scared it messed up the instruments. I could just see the news headlines “Birtney Spears causes plane to dramatically plunge into the ocean of the east African coast, never to be seen again!” 

So please, if anyone has ANY ideas on how to conquer a fear because facing it isn’t helping this one!

~maisha (in the sky)