Prompt #59: Attachment & Letting Go

February 2023

Hi Friends,

I’ve been thinking about this month’s theme, about attachment, about letting go, about what I’m not yet willing to release. One thing I really wanted to let go of was my fear of flying. I know, I know…a travel writer who is afraid of flying. It’s ridiculous.

A friend of mine said she saw a hypnotherapist so she could let go of things she was holding, that she thought it would help her finish her memoir. She ended up not only finishing her book after seeing the hypnotherapist, but she stopped biting her nails, something she had done since she was a little girl. That was enough to convince me, plus I was curious, so I contacted the hypnotherapist. On our initial phone call, she told me that she works in images and that’s weird for some people. I told her that as a writer, working in images sounded perfect for me. We made our first appointment.

I would say that what we did in our first appointment was 1/3 therapy, 1/3 visualization/imagery, and 1/3 woo-woo. At one point, she made all kinds of interesting faces and sounds, which was supposed to put me into a trance, but it didn’t. She said I couldn’t let myself go. I felt like I was ready to let go of the fear of flying though. She thought I was ready to as well, but we wouldn’t know if it worked until my first flight hit turbulence.

A few weeks later, I flew to Hawaii to visit a friend, and the flight was perfect. Not a bump. No strange plane noises (at least no stranger than usual), no smells of burning things. I was disappointed. I had been hoping for some bad weather or clear air turbulence to see if my therapy worked. But the very fact that I was hoping for those things I previously dreaded showed that maybe it had worked? My friend and I then flew to the big island for a few days, and again, a perfect flight. However, on our way back to her home island of Oahu, my flying phobia was finally tested.