Question
First flight in 2 weeks, and I do struggle with vertigo due to chronic anemia. I also am generally speaking afraid of heights. I have pretty bad panic attacks in general so I think I'm just wondering how I will even mentally comprehend that I'm that high in the air without panicking. Also worried I'll realize underneath the floor that my feet are on there's absolutely nothing for thousands of feet and feel dizzy/panicked. Vertigo makes the anxiety so much worse. Is there anyone else who was worried about the height and your brain not being able to comprehend how high you are (idk how else to describe it) and been okay? Scared i'll have a panic attack and get left somewhere
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I used to have a pretty big fear of heights. Got over that enough to do a sketchy summit path in the Austrian Alps with a sheer drop on one side and steep rocks on the other — but you better believe I was holding onto the cable they had strung up pretty damn tight.
I have never had an issue flying. Not even doing aerobatics. For whatever reason, a lot of people just don’t feel it. Just try to keep your mind open to that possibility.
I really want to try to go into optimistic that I will actually like it. My cousin adores flying. I think she's a freak tbh, but I have heard that it feels different than normal heights for a lot of people. The anticipation of a new experience is probably making it worse in my head. I'm imagining that it feels horrible to be up there but surely it can't if thousands of people do it everyday.
Anticipation is almost always going to be worse than reality. I took the practical test for my private pilot’s license today, and I won’t lie — I was a little nervous beforehand. Got a little rumbling in the stomach on the way into the airport coming back from a practice hop with my instructor (kind of uncomfortable being 15 minutes out and needing to hit the bathroom lol) but the test itself wasn’t nearly as stressful as I thought it would be.
Wasn’t even as bad as trying to find parking to pick up sushi tonight.
All of that is to say that your mind will mess with you. It happens to the best of us. See what it feels like — and you can even try to mentally reframe your anxiety as being excited to try something new!
I'm gonna try. This will be the biggest step I've ever taken. I have always been a huge pussy. And I've chickened out on doing way less.
You can do it! And be a little kinder to yourself while you’re at it. I believe in you!
Love hearing that stuff from pilots. Being more stressed about parking or household chores or whatever than flying just helps to show how safe flying is and how it doesn't even register as something to worry about for them.
I always try to remind myself that the pilots are people just like us, people with lives and families that they want to get home to at the end of the day. They will do everything in their power to ensure that, and they wouldn't fly in the first place if they didn't feel safe.