Stress and the effects of stress are all part of modern life, however sometimes we confuse being busy with being stressed. Sometimes we confuse not getting our own way as being stressed. Sometimes there isn’t enough time in the day to complete the routine tasks of life and we have to prioritize what we do in both our working and domestic lives. When we perform minor tasks at the expense of the more important ones we get an increasing sense of urgency and inability to do them. Our mind tells us that we have done the wrong things. Stress however is not caused by doing the wrong things; stress is caused by our perception of the time available to do the things we have to do. For an anxious flyer, daily stress just adds to the stress of flying. But which comes first? Which stress causes more stress?
It’s more than likely that the ordinary stresses of life make the worries of flying even worse, and so it is important as a fearful flyer to control all your stress levels. Controlling stress by knowledge is part of our  Fear of Flying Simulator Course and   Fear of Flying Ground Course.

• Stress is under your control
• Stress in the right amounts can be motivating
• Un-managed Stress will make you vulnerable

The definition we use for pilot training regarding stress is as follows: “Stress is the difference between the perceived task and our perceived ability to perform the task.” You will see that this definition does not include any reference to the importance of what we do.

For instance the reason that traffic jams are so stressful to some people is that the perceived task i.e. getting to work on time versus the perceived ability to get there on time is in conflict and out of one’s control. However if each morning you had a police escort with its flashing lights and sirens going then your perceived ability to get to work on time would be fairly high and therefore your stress levels would come down.

Anyone who suffers from a fear of flying suffers considerable stress because the perceived task of getting on a plane and flying away … compared with your perceived ability to perform that task is almost non-existent. This causes very high levels of stress, which affect many aspects of our cognitive (thinking) processes.

The first step in reducing stress levels it is to set realizable outcomes. You should set your expectations to something that you can realistically achieve, and then when you enjoy success you can raise your expectations gradually until you meet your required outcome. Clearly if you have a fear of flying, you cannot expect to fly as happily as the crew do. Perhaps it would be more realistic to expect to be very anxious generally. The steps in overcoming your fear should not be centred around getting on a plane. Only when you have completed your preparation should you embark on a flight.

When you take your flight you should concentrate on a small part of the flight where your anxiety can be reduced. Perhaps your first task might be to walk around in the cabin or to let go of the armrests for a few moments… start with something simple, congratulate yourself, then set new targets.

Here is an idea that might help you. If you aim to climb a mountain, then you will succeed only when you reach the summit. If however you aim is to get as far up the mountain as you can, then each time you try, you’ll succeed. This is not a question of setting low standards or aspirations it’s setting realistic ones. After all overcoming your fear is not a competition, there’s no winning or losing there is only succeeding. And of course one day the mountain may be in a blizzard, and another day be sunny and bright. Anyway success breeds success.

Go to our START HERE page and the Action Plan page to start on your journey to overcome your fear of flying.