People with fear of flying or boats?

[phil06]

Has anybody here got these fears and been able to overcome them or not overcome them? For me the boat would be my biggest anxiety then long haul then short haul flights. I have flew a few times in past few years but I don’t want to fly until next year earliest now.

I am unsure if I can beat it I mean if I hate planes you can go to Ireland and NYC by boat but I fear this would be worse as you can’t get off for hours or in some cases all week. I have many fears like what to eat, exercise on a boat, heights sea sickness, the water..anybody here been on a cruise?

Also I have a fear of going in bus coaches on the motorway but I did manage to get on one and over come this fear the other day.

[nomorepanic]

Phil- I honestly believe you need to get on top of the OCD first and foremost and then tackle these issues later. If you don't treat the MAIN problem then you can't possibly treat all the others.

[phil06]

Phil- I honestly believe you need to get on top of the OCD first and foremost and then tackle these issues later. If you don't treat the MAIN problem then you can't possibly treat all the others.

That is true but I can still enjoy a holiday whilst recovering from ocd. Besides I may never fully get over the ocd so have to continue as normal

[LF87]

I say do the travel if you can! Don't get me wrong it's not easy, but definitely doable so don't feel defeated. I just flew to Spain for a wedding. I hate flying, like really bad. I was physically sick the morning of our flight. I hate the airport crowds and the general hustle of it all. I didn't end up attending the wedding cos of my sickness phobia and having a bad day with it. But, I did manage to have a really good few days in hindsight relaxing by the pool with my bf and getting some sun. You're right, we may never overcome our problems entirely, so learning ways to manage it whilst you're away or travelling is key so that we don't miss out. X

[MyNameIsTerry]

Phil,

I agree, if you can do things then it would be considered better to try them. The opposite is avoidance and shrinking inwards which any therapist will say isn't the way to go.

However, anxiety tends to overlap into other areas and it becomes a big mash up of nastiness. You have to learn to pick your battles with it and prioritise. Therefore you could try to tackle your travelling anxiety, but also work on your contamination/perfection issues, as you rightly say this could always stop you travelling for years but what you also need to do is accept these are areas that need to be tackled in a structural way and we have given advise on how to tackle them all.

[Yort]

I use to be afraid of flying up till a year ago where i finally said i had enough of riding in a car for 8 hours to Florida and decided to take the dive on flying and i came out of it feeling like i was ''That was what i was afraid of? really?'' Now the idea of flying for long periods of time is a whole new battle.

[phil06]

Phil,

I agree, if you can do things then it would be considered better to try them. The opposite is avoidance and shrinking inwards which any therapist will say isn't the way to go.

However, anxiety tends to overlap into other areas and it becomes a big mash up of nastiness. You have to learn to pick your battles with it and prioritise. Therefore you could try to tackle your travelling anxiety, but also work on your contamination/perfection issues, as you rightly say this could always stop you travelling for years but what you also need to do is accept these are areas that need to be tackled in a structural way and we have given advise on how to tackle them all.

I think my whole life I have been fussy when I fly. Some days I just go stuff it I will go and I end up going.

Course I get great places by train but I feel guilty about the time and cost of it. If Ireland could be reached by train I would go twice per year but sadly it takes me a lot of effort just to get the courage to go and book a flight.

[Fishmanpa]

What's more expensive? Holidays and traveling or real life professional help? Just curious

Positive thoughts

[phil06]

What's more expensive? Holidays and traveling or real life professional help? Just curious

Positive thoughts

Yes but the professional has to work. Now I stopped therapy if I do go back I believe I should try someone new in future

[LF87]

Yes, I've also had therapists who I didn't gel with, it's important to find someone you feel you can work with. And even still, professional help is great - but it doesn't just fix us. There's a lot of advice on here now just saying 'yeah but get help for your anxiety' etc, which is true and it does help hugely. However, I've had many many courses of professional help over my life and I'm still on forums, still having problems, so it's a little naive of people to just assume professional help will fix everything. It's usually still a battle, even if we overcome the worst of it anxiety will always be there, it's in our make up. So, it is really important in my opinion to find coping mechanisms that work for you. Even if that does mean spending more to get places to be honest! At least you're getting there which is brilliant. After my last flight and the whole holiday thing I've realised it's just something I will always struggle with. It is worth all of the worry, feeling ill and panicking? Not really. So in future I will be looking to travel by different means, as that works for me and will allow me to enjoy the time I'm away rather than freaking about planes airports and all the rest of it. There's no right or wrong, we just need to find our groove so we don't miss out on the things we want to do