Travel can be an exciting opportunity to open your mind and expand your horizons. Seeing new places can introduce fresh perspectives and introduce you to events and moments in your life that you wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. In short, it can be an incredibly valuable experience. However, a massive hurdle in the way of these benefits for many people is the actual act of traveling itself.
A fear of flying isn’t remotely uncommon, and it’s likely the example that you think of first here. However, other means of travel can prove troublesome for people as well, and looking to overcome that might mean that you open yourself up to a whole range of new activities.
Study the Facts
Something that a lot of people might find to be a comfort is understanding more about the form of travel that they’re about to jump on. For planes, this might mean looking at statistics of accidents, especially when compared to the number of flights that go out globally per day. This in itself can help to add some element of comfort, something that can be further soothed by understanding more about even regular occurrences – like turbulence.
For other forms of travel, like boats, it might mean knowing what to do in case of such an emergency. However, it might also be about understanding the actions that you can take if something were to happen – such as enlisting the help of a boating accident injury lawyer. This contingency can add a level of comfort that assures you of your options, even when everything is smooth sailing.
Self-Care and Methods for Coping
There’s another approach that you can take – one that you can practice during your downtime before or after the travel takes place and something that can be applied to those moments of travel. Breathing exercises are a prime example of this, and while very easy to get to grips with, they can be something that you deploy whenever you find yourself overwhelmed with stress and anxiety – traveling or not. There are also apps and sounds available through services like Spotify that are specifically designed to create a calming atmosphere in these types of situations.
Finding ways to deal with anxiety, in general, might have you feeling better prepared when specifically dealing with the stress that arises when traveling, making the whole experience more enjoyable.
Professional Counselling
Of course, if you’re finding it’s something that you’re struggling to deal with on your own and at a point where it’s infringing on your ability to live your life how you’d like, you could always consider the route of professional help. Phobias are something that mental health professionals are accustomed to dealing with, which might mean that your situation is much more treatable than you had been led to believe. That being said, everyone is different, and people experience these types of things in their own way, which might advise you against coming in with incredibly high expectations – but you might still find the experience to be massively beneficial, regardless of the degree that it helps you overcome this particular issue.
