Intense fear of flying, how to help?

[Anonymous]

Long story short, I have a 32 year old sister in the Midwest, and through the years, I’ve always flew over to see her and other fam. Went last August. I’ve been trying to switch things up and every time I ask if she’d come to see us in my state, she says she wants to but she considers flying “very sketchy”and “hates having her life in the hands of strangers.” She also doesn’t want to drive the distance whatsoever, says it way too far to drive.

So I understand the fear of flying but to fear it so much that you forgo seeing your family is still letting it dictate how you live. Her statements reflect an extremely paranoid lens to see this through, not to mention it doesn’t hold up logically. You put your life in the hands of strangers all the time, you just don’t realize it.

Is there any way I can help her get out of her own head about this?

[Anonymous]

Okay, fear of flying, a lot of people have it, but if you're unwilling to also drive or take like a bus or train, that's what seems more sketch to me unless she has some disability that makes it difficult to do so. I don't have an intense fear of flying but I hate all the drama it takes to get on a plane these days, so I mostly drive when I can even if it means 16 hours to see family, but that's just it. It's family! Once a year at the bare minimum isn't going to kill her to make that effort. It's about the end result of being surrounded by people you love and want to see you and spend time with you.

I think there needs to be a face to face deeper conversation about this to find out the root of her issues with driving and flying. The emphasis really needs to be to her point, if life isn't in our hands, it's also very short and fleeting and tomorrow is NEVER guaranteed even if you stay in your house, a tree could fall on you and kill you, so its best not to waste time with fear or at least not attempting to get over that fear because what if something happened to one of you---is she not going to come if say you're in the hospital?!?

[Static_In_The_Attic]

The only thing to fear is fear itself & if you want to get over the fear of flying maybe you should learn how to fly. I double dare you & getting your pilots license is a lot of fun.

[SnowedIn]

Will data sway her? It is safer to fly by a crazy number than it is to drive from your house to the grocery store.

[TheSpaceGnome]

I agree with her on this one, and as such, there isn't anything you can do except convince her to be driven the distance by another person.

[In_Trance]

I don't get her logic. Isn't your life in the hands of stranger when you drive on public roads? Probably more so than flying in a plane.