5 tips to help conquer your fear of flying

Afraid of flying and a travel blogger? Yes that's me!! I try and use lots of different modes of transport, especially eco-friendly options, however it is quite difficult to avoid planes when travelling a lot. Even though i still am very scared of flying, I use several different techniques to try and ease my anxiety when I'm on the plane.

Flying anxiety or flying phobia is a real thing and can really affect the enjoyment of the first stage of your trip. Use these techniques to try and ease the anxiety and allow you to sit back and relax, and maybe even enjoy the flight.

1. Share your fear/anxiety with the people you are travelling with so they can look out for the early warning signs of your anxiety and they should be able to help you through the flight. If you're travelling on your own and feel confident enough to befriend the passengers sat next to you, allow them to understand your fears and they may also be able to help.

2. Keep yourself busy throughout the flight. It's no good staring out the window repeating to yourself 'this plane is going to crash this plane is going to crash' and winding yourself up (this is something I used to do when I was petrified, really didn't help). Bring lots of things along with you to keep your mind active. I always bring a good book that I've already started to enjoy, I write blog articles, do some sudoku or even draw. All these things can help ease your flight anxiety.

3. Being a catastrophic thinker and having severe flight anxiety, its easy to always think the worst thing is going to happen. One thing that has really helped me was to look into the facts and figures of 'the worst situation' and to understand how unlikely it is to ever happen to me while I'm flying. It hasn't resolved my anxiety but it has put it at ease when I now fly.

4. Replace your negative thoughts with positive thoughts. Instead of saying 'I am scared this plane is going to crash' replace that with 'I am aware of my fear of flying but I know I am safe and I'm going to be okay'. This then relaxes your mind and the positive thoughts, if done for long enough, will outweigh the negative thoughts.

5. Focus on your breathing. With all forms of anxiety its really important to control your breathing because it puts you back in control of how you're feeling. Slow big breaths

Embrace every flight you take. Flying is a wonderful thing and when you retract the fear that you associate with it you can start to sit back and enjoy the experience. Or at least try too!