Afraid to fly
A Puerto Rican friend, a wealthy widow who travels the world, revealed to me that she had cured her fear of flying through whisky. She’d always take a good supply with her on board, hidden in a small bag, and at the second or third sip, the ship could turn somersaults or be tossed about by the wind and she’d be giggling and happy, impervious to everything. I tried to apply her formula, but it did not work for me. I am very allergic to alcohol, and gulps of whisky, far from taking away my fear of flying, just increased it, and gave me headaches, shivers and nausea on top. I would probably have needed to become a hardened alcoholic, seeing little green men, to achieve the indifference to flying that my Puerto Rican friend managed with a few sips of alcohol. The cure would have been more damaging than the illness.
From Mario Vargas Llosa: How I Lost My Fear of Flying | Work in Progress
I am afraid of flying. Mario VargosLlosa's reason above is why I do not take anti-anxiety medicine on a flight. I am convinced it will work on the wrong anxiety. I recite the facts of flying. It is not scientific reassurance. It is a chant.