So many of us live with fears ... only a few of us choose to share them ... and even fewer actually acknowledge that a specific fear is crippling them.
When you acknowledge a fear, it's the first step to conquering it.
What if I told you that I had the most horrific fear of flying…
So bad in fact, I couldn't even go to an airport ... and to this day, when I tell people my story, they still laugh at me in disbelief.
They laugh … because they’ve never walked in my shoes.
I tried. I failed.
I tried again and was defeated.
My fear of flying was crippling me and while friends planned holidays, I sat watching in envy.
Eventually, when I finally had no option but to fly, I got as far as the boarding gate.
I tried again... and again, and again...
I lost count of the times I tried to fly. I’d book countless air tickets and then just cancel them because of my fear.
I'd drive to Johannesburg and look up into the sky, searching for clouds or any threat of bad weather.
I’d look for anything to convince myself that driving was the right decision. Anything I could use as evidence to say to people 'You see, just as well I didn't fly'
Then… came a turning point in my life.
A conscious decision that I would never ever allow the fear that was crippling me, to control me again...
I turned my car around, drove to the airport and signed up to do my pilots license.
The fear of flying may be a distinct phobia in itself, or it may be an indirect combination of one or more other disorders like claustrophobia (fear of being in a confined space) or acrophobia (fear of being at a certain height)
Using his own life story, Damon has teamed up with airline pilots and clinical psychologists to help others also suffering with a fear of flying and has since helped thousands of people on his Damon Beard 'Flying without fear' course.
Feedback:
I have always had an incredible fear of flying.
In fact it was so bad, I once gave my brother a free ticket to Australia because there was just no ways I'd get on a plane. Then, my daughter who lived in the UK at the time unbeknown to me booked me a flight to visit her ...
Knowing that Damon Beard had also been terrified of flying ... and had overcome it, I contacted him in desperation.
Within days, I'd taken a short flight to Johannesburg and a few months later.... I was on my way to London!!
Thanks Damon, for your encouragement, love and care. You helped me so much … and now I absolutely love flying...
Pat Sunkel – Durban