All posts tagged: Flying

Wait, is this a tension headache? WHY

As a lifelong holder of the”maybe you could chill the fuck out a bit” badge I know a thing or two about headaches. I had them on an almost daily basis as a child until one day a dentist looked at my teeth and was like “hey, where are your canine teeth?” (*spoiler alert: I’d ground them away in my sleep like a hobo chewing on roots in the woods trying to talk to birds*). Since then I’ve slept with a mouth guard every night of my life even while camping, even with boyfriends, even while making out sometimes cuz nothing says sexy like excessive saliva. The headaches got better and even though I still get them more frequently than I’d like, they are manageable. But something has happened in the past few weeks. I’ve welcomed a new melody to my catalog of headaches. At first I thought it was the usual, good-old-fashioned almost-migraine headache. But something was different. It was like I was wearing an invisible baseball hat. Made for babies. Baby ants. My scalp …

My Anxiety Was a Third Wheel on My Honeymoon

“I know I should be Zen and look at my nerves as a symbol of sensitivity and I should be grateful that we’re even here in the first place, but sometimes I get so MAD at myself.” I sat in the airport terminal, Jared waiting patiently next to me, as the loudspeaker overhead announced they were boarding rows 1 – 20. It was almost midnight and we were about to get on our plane to fly back home. We’d just spent a week in Hawaii on our honeymoon and my insides were churning like the ocean in the middle of a squall. My anxiety was pitching and rolling. The last thing I wanted to do was walk onto that airplane. And I was furious. No matter how much I’m aware of my patterns, my habits, and the way my nerves affect my physical body, it can still betray me despite my cognitive awareness. Like, I “know” there is nothing to be anxious about and yet my digestive track and stomach and muscles refuse to acknowledge this. …

If you're feeling nervous or anxious about flying in an airplane

How Travel Makes My Anxiety Go Bananas

A lot of us will be traveling this holiday season. Whether it’s in a car, a train, or an airplane, we move around this world towards people we love (or have conflicted relationships with) for the holidays. And if you’re like me, your anxiety heightens while you travel. I’ve had almost-panic attacks while in airports, airplanes, and in traffic. And, who knows, maybe some of them were real attacks. I wouldn’t go so far to say I suffer from real claustrophobia, but the feeling of being trapped definitely exacerbates my anxiety. Let’s have a little story time: I have a tiny bladder. And once, towards the end of a flight, I started feeling like I had to pee. The seatbelt sign was still on so I thought I could hold it until we landed. It got to the point where I couldn’t. Even though the plane was descending I unbuckled and started walking back in the aisle. A stewardess came towards me and told me to sit back down. After a few arguing moments she …