The wonders of modern medicine.

So I love travel and flying from one part of the world to another¹ but at the same time I'm terrified of planes. Okay, terrified might be too strong a word. Let's just say I've always worried about the millions of things that could go wrong during a flight that might prevent me from making it to my destination. This fear only intensified -- predictably -- post-9/11 yet, ironically, I have actually flown more post-9/11 than I think I have at any other point in my life.

Now keep in mind the paradox. I am filled with wonder and excitement with the thought of and process of flying but the actual mechanics fill me with fear and dread. I mean I actually love flying and am scared of flying at the same time. One thing that has helped me a little though is self-education on the actual mechanics of flying. Turbulence is a little less scary when you have a better idea of what causes it instead of allowing your overly-fertile imagination to construct scenarios and its own explanations. However the thing I've found that helped the absolute most was recommended to my by a dear old friend a few years ago as we were discussing how we both find flying to be so stressful.

Xanax.

Ever since he suggested that magic little pill, and my doctor agreed that I would probably find it oh-so helpful, flying has become much more enjoyable. Instead of freaking out every time the plane starts to shake and rattle I instead just kind of, "Oh. Hm. Interesting." Luckily for me though the best thing about Xanax is it allows me to actually sleep on a flight so no matter what the distance the trip always feels like it only takes half an hour. Except for trips to and from China. No way could I sleep for the duration of those. However believe me when I say that Xanax really helped take the edge off and allowed me to enjoy the trip with more a sense of wide-eyed wonder thank slack-jawed terror.

God bless modern science!

¹Oh yeah, that reminds me...my little brother just flew back from Toronto this weekend so I've got to remember to ask him if he saw any good movies at the film festival. Wasn't that new Cameron Crowe flick debuting there?