Thanks to everyone for the great responses!!!
I wanted to share that anxiety reducing exercise that mentioned. I thought it sounded a bit hokey at first, but it works!! This info is from SOAR:
5,4,3,2,1 exercise
Find something to focus on, and say to yourself (silently or out loud, as you prefer) "I see" and name something in your peripheral vision. Continue until you have made five statements.
Switch to hearing and say, "I hear" and name something you hear. Continue until you have made five statements. If you don't hear five different things, just repeat a previous statement.
Switch to touch, and say, "I feel" and name something you are touching. Continue until you have made five touch statements.
Then do a second round. On the second round, make four statements instead of five. Then do a third round making three statements. Then do a fourth round making two statements, followed by a final round in which you make only one seeing, one hearing, and one touch statement.
This exercise is just a way to focus temporarily on things that don't cause anxiety so that the stress hormones accumulated prior to doing the exercise can be used up. Repeat the 5-4-3-2-1 if you want to be more relaxed or fall asleep. If you lose count, that is a good sign because it means you are getting so relaxed that you are losing count.
It's like your car. Your foot on the accelerator causes gas to flow continuously into the engine. That keeps the engine revved up, Your thoughts about "what if" cause a continuous release of stress hormones. That keeps you revved up. Remove your foot from the accelerator, and your car slows down. Remove "what if" thoughts from your mind, and your mind and body calms down.
In other words, you don't have to force yourself to relax. Just stop the release of stress hormones and relaxation takes place. A couple of minutes of the 5-4-3-2-1 and you'll feel better. Use it anytime anxiety builds up. Also, use it every time you start to imagine something bad happening during your flight. If you repeatedly imagine a crash or imagine being in a state of panic during the flight, this imagination will become memorized. Once it is memorized, the thought or image no longer comes to mind as something that is not real. Instead, it comes to mind as something real. That can lead to the belief that you "just know" your plane will crash or that you are sure to panic.
See:
http://www.fearofflying.com/free-video/5-4-3-2-1-exercise.shtml
