Member-only story
Travelling Solo Can Teach You How To Overcome Your Fears
Confront your fears instead of cowering from them
Two hours before the plane landed in Sydney, I was petrified.
Flying through the air at 30,000 feet, my mind wandered to what was going to happen when I stepped off the plane into Australia. A country I’d wanted to spend a year in for as long as I could remember.
I’d be alone on the other side of the planet. No one to rely on. No one to call if something went wrong. Just me and my backpack. As much as I’d wanted to do this trip, now it was real, the freedom scared me.
I’d stepped out of my comfort zone but I wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea or not. As the plane continued its path towards Sydney, thoughts of the plane crashing raced through my mind. Maybe this would be better than having to spend a year in Australia alone.
As crazy as it sounds, those thoughts were real. At one point, I really didn’t want the flight to end. A crash or a perpetual flight with no end in sight were preferable to landing in Australia.
Thankfully, as two hours turned into one and one turned into a few minutes, the plane didn’t crash, the flight did end and we landed safely in Sydney. I now had to confront the fears which had built up in my mind.
