Air Travel

There have been many changes in our country due to terrorism. Especially since the tragedy of September eleventh two thousand and one; this is a date that will remain in the memory of every American that was alive on that Tuesday morning. Many things about day to day life have resumed since then but air travel will never be the same again.

Since that fateful September day I have struggled each time that my business leads me to air travel. For several months I refused to fly. I tried to run my business meetings through telephone calls, conference calling and emailing. I was looking into a teleconference system when my vice president came and had a meeting with me. He shared that he was concerned that the business was declining and he attributed this to the lack of personal contact with customers and potential accounts. He felt it was imperative that we resume the face to face personal level of business that the company had been founded on. He was very frank when he stated that my fear of air travel was destroying my business. He volunteered to be the one to go to the meetings. He did not have a fear of air travel and he did not want to see the terrorist win. He pointed out that this is what was happening. They had stripped me of my confidence in flying and thus were destroying my business.

His words had a great impact on me. I knew that he was right, and I also knew that if anyone was going to save the company it had to be me. I decided that if air travel was the only way to restore my business I was going to have to over come my fears. I called my executive assistant and told her to book me on a flight to the west coast. I also had her make arrangements with our business associate to meet with me in person rather than the teleconference I had been trying to set up. Later that day my executive assistant came into my office and asked if she could have a word with me. She shared that she knew about my fear of air travel and that she had heard that the airlines was running a group for people who were afraid to fly. This group was to help people discuss their fears with others that had similar ones. I had her sign me up for the group.

I went to the group regarding fear of air travel. In listening to others fears it helped me realize I was being irrational. Some how hearing others express my same thoughts helped me to realize how silly I have sounded to my colleagues. I am now back to flying around the country for my business.