Best cure for my fear of flying? Super cute fellow passengers!

“Good news! Passengers in the back of the plane are the most likely to survive a crash!”

 

I dread flying, detest feeling like a seat number being herded into cramped and grumpy rows of human parcels that have no say in how or when we get delivered.

And I really don’t like being completely dependent on others for my safe arrival, usually spending nearly every second of every flight anxiously evaluating every noise for danger. 

But what I dislike the most is having little-to-no choice in who I share knee and elbow space with as I struggle to convince myself that each breath of un-fresh air won’t be my last.

So it was a wonderful surprise on my last flight to share my very limited space with the best fellow passengers I could have hoped for: two adorable children who made me forget all my fears and frustrations.

That was cool.

Normally, continued engagement with the seats in front or behind would anger me, but watching the young boy in my row play clapping games with the even younger girl in front of him made me almost as happy as them, the joy on their faces quickly spreading to mine.

Even cooler than not being angry? I forgot to be afraid, and forgetting my fear was much better than sharing it, which I had done on my previous flight. That time I sat with a man who exclaimed happily as I joined him in the last row, “Good news! Passengers in the back of the plane are the most likely to survive a crash!”

I smiled at meeting another fearful passenger, and ended up chatting comfortably with him much of our time together. But knowing that I was sharing the super tense moments of take-off and landing with another anxious person did not ease my anxiety — in fact, knowing that he was having the same horrible thoughts as me only intensified them.

But those kids erased my anxiety completely. Instead of listening for doom I heard delighted laughs and giggles, making me splash happily in the waves of life that I was being forced to wade in instead of just waiting to drown in death.

And that was very cool.