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JustJess · 08-23-2008, 07:48 AM

I just get uncomfortable because I get motion sick. So I'm too busy trying not to puke on my shoes to worry much about dying. We've been on a few flights that have been rocky and crazy, and those were scary - inducing much hand-holding and "just in case X happens, I need to tell you I love you!" sorts of things, but otherwise, I just don't get that stressed out. I think it's my personality type - I am certainly a control freak in many ways, but if it's out of my control, I just sort of accept that. E.g. I'm late. I've done everything I can do to get there on time, and now there's traffic. I can't fix it, and there's no point freaking out. It is what it is. I sort of try to zen out about it. Not always successfully, but mostly I just let things go. And on an airplane, I'm not in control of anything. Where I sit, how loud it is, the flying skills of the pilots, the crappiness of the food (when there was food, that is)... it's out of my hands. No point in getting upset, it's just a waste of energy!

I do think there's a simple explanation for why most of the posts mention getting more frightened of flying as they get older... The young are actually not mentally developed enough to fully appreciate the dangers of their activities. Seriously, it's something we learned in our pediatrics/psych courses. Until about our mid-20's, most of us haven't developed that sense of danger about our persons. Why do you think car insurance is so expensive until you're 25? Because statistically, people are crazier and more reckless until about that age. Married people get cheaper car insurance than single people. Again, a marker of a certain mindset about life. Really, checking into actuarial statistics for insurance would probably be pretty illuminating about how people live, and markers for certain types of risky behavior. Because most of that is simply observing and analyzing who does what and when and how likely it is that it will happen.

So anyway, my point: as we get older, we develop the mental capacity to appreciate our risk in a way that we didn't have in our younger years. Plus your being a self-acknowledged control freak... and we have ourselves some increasing anxieties about flying!

08-23-2008, 07:48 AM	#33 (permalink)
JustJess Unencapsulated Location: Kittyville	I just get uncomfortable because I get motion sick. So I'm too busy trying not to puke on my shoes to worry much about dying. We've been on a few flights that have been rocky and crazy, and those were scary - inducing much hand-holding and "just in case X happens, I need to tell you I love you!" sorts of things, but otherwise, I just don't get that stressed out. I think it's my personality type - I am certainly a control freak in many ways, but if it's out of my control, I just sort of accept that. E.g. I'm late. I've done everything I can do to get there on time, and now there's traffic. I can't fix it, and there's no point freaking out. It is what it is. I sort of try to zen out about it. Not always successfully, but mostly I just let things go. And on an airplane, I'm not in control of anything. Where I sit, how loud it is, the flying skills of the pilots, the crappiness of the food (when there was food, that is)... it's out of my hands. No point in getting upset, it's just a waste of energy! I do think there's a simple explanation for why most of the posts mention getting more frightened of flying as they get older... The young are actually not mentally developed enough to fully appreciate the dangers of their activities. Seriously, it's something we learned in our pediatrics/psych courses. Until about our mid-20's, most of us haven't developed that sense of danger about our persons. Why do you think car insurance is so expensive until you're 25? Because statistically, people are crazier and more reckless until about that age. Married people get cheaper car insurance than single people. Again, a marker of a certain mindset about life. Really, checking into actuarial statistics for insurance would probably be pretty illuminating about how people live, and markers for certain types of risky behavior. Because most of that is simply observing and analyzing who does what and when and how likely it is that it will happen. So anyway, my point: as we get older, we develop the mental capacity to appreciate our risk in a way that we didn't have in our younger years. Plus your being a self-acknowledged control freak... and we have ourselves some increasing anxieties about flying! __________________ My heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talkin'.