Conquering Your Fears

This is the beginning of our "Finding Wellness Series."  We'll be posting at least one post like this each month so we can all begin finding wellness for ourselves and moving forward on things like mindful eating, healing, spirituality. We'll also include tips, experiences, ideas, and inspiration for the mind, body and soul.Our first post is about overcoming and conquering your fears and phobias. I’m guessing almost all of us are afraid of something... pubic speaking, snakes, spiders, dying? Usually those are in the top 10. I have the worst fear of flying. I mean it takes over my mind for months and months. I get the worst anxiety as soon as I book the flights. It is the most awful thing to be that worried, that long over something as silly as a flight to a place you've always looked forward to seeing. I refuse to let it hold me back and cripple me into not checking off my giant bucket list and not seeing the world. Life is way too short and fragile to not do the things you want for yourself.Mine... flying in an airplane. ✈ It’s awful! We’re talking when I book the flight 11 months out I get that pit in my stomach, start sweating, and anxiety kicks in full force. I used to love to fly which is why I get so frustrated now. My parents used to put me on a plane alone at 6 or 7 and I would fly to be with my grandmother for a week in Philadelphia. And then she would put me back on a plane and send me back home. I never had a care in the word about it. Now a completely different story! Maybe it's from a couple of back to back awful flights of turbulence, plane flipping on its side, one plane got to close to another's jet wash so we touched down and right back up and circled for 2 hours before we could land again. Maybe it's because I tend to get on the flights with the crazier than me type, that are screaming at flight attendants, falling in the aisles, punching the back of seats and being belligerent to the people around them. Honestly I haven't really had a smooth or nice flight in over 20 years.Some say it's gotten worse because I have small children. The fear of leaving them behind, is definitely in the back of my mind also. Anyway, what ever or where ever the fear comes from I refuse to let it restrict my life and to hold me back from the things I want to do, see, accomplish, and hot to live.As my trips get closer, I tend to get more anxious, but once I am up in the sky I am usually pretty good until the yelling man in the back of the plane starts in about how he's being abused by the crew. ;)I've tried countless things to help or overcome the fear of getting on the plane.Try these methods:

• Essential oils definitely help with calming.
• Healing Crystals help also with putting something in your hand or in your pocket and focusing on that one object.
• Hypnosis- this made a significant difference in the level of anxiety. It hasn't cured it, but has definitely put a huge dent in my emotions, feelings, and reactions to flying. The treatment that was used on me was EMDR- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Theory. It's actually what they use for PTSD with soldiers that have been in combat. So you're never really in and altered state of consciousness. You are fully aware of your surroundings and able to process your feelings, thoughts, and emotions. You hold 2 circular objects connected to a battered operated remote. They vibrate once in the right hand and then once in the left hand. It continues to alternate on a set timer. While the vibrations pass back and forth in your hands, you recall the stressors or events and how they happened, over and over again. Talking about how you feel in the beginning it's the pain, fear, danger, overwhelm, etc. as the time passes you learn to change the thought process to feelings of calm, relaxation, safety, etc. It takes multiple sessions and really putting yourself back into the uncomfortable positions that give you the fear, but it definitely helps begin to move forward. It doesn't cure but it's worth it!
• Faith & religion- We all have our beliefs and we have things that always bring comfort. These actually work well for me. Growing up Catholic, I tend to have lots of things that offer stress release like my St. Christopher medallion Patron Saint of Travel and my grandmother's rosaries are always in my pocket or in my hand for all of the flight. We all chose things to help relieve the anxiety and stress. So find something that brings you peace of mind.
• Tapping- This has been the most effecting tool for working on my fear of flying and for other anxieties. Use this method if you tend to get overwhelmed with anything, a presentation, heavy traffic, deadlines, dealing with a stress filled job. Whenever the anxiety tends to kick in.

Method for Tapping:

1. Realize and acknowledge what is giving you the anxiety.
2. Create an affirmation. Such as... "Even though I feel anxious right now, I deeply and fully accept myself."
3. Then you're going to begin to tap through the accupressure points in your body, (these are used in Chinese medicine) while you continue to say your affirmation.
4. Using your dominant hand, you're going to use 2-3 fingers and begin tapping on the outside of your left hand-down on the soft pad, down from your pinkie finger. Or the "karate chop point." for about 6-8 taps.
5. Then the inside of the eye brow.
6. Outside of the eye brow.
7. Cheek bone under the eye.
8. Upper lip.
9. Chin.
10. Collar bone.
11. Underneath the ribcage under your armpit.
12. Tips of the fingers together.
13. Then the top of the head.

Continue your affirmation and going through the points until you start to feel your anxiety release. Usually about 5 minutes is all your need to start to feel better.I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me. Comment below and let me know how it works for you! If you see my in an airport tapping, come sit next to me and say hello! ;)Cheers to overcoming anxiety and fear!!!