Reflections of a low cost air traveller: Fight or Flight?
Why does low cost air travel bring out the beast in us?
On my way to Nice from London last week, I took easyJet, more out of necessity than choice.<
It’ll be all right, I thought, I’m flying out of the UK where people are generally more considerate and better disciplined than their European neighbours…
The gate number had hardly been displayed on the departure board when the stampede began. A French family of four beat the record: Dad slalomed down the corridor dragging behind him not one but two trolleys followed by his son who had his own trolley. They did not manage to knock down any traveller but gained a good two meters in the race. Behind them ran Mum tottering on her high heels and their daughter also pulling a trolley. Once past the first control, breathing settled and heart rates slowed down as we all started lining up to board the plane. A British family was behind me. This is good, I thought, surely, they will not push. Surprisingly, as we took our first steps to board the plane towards the coveted window or aisle seat, the woman tried to subtly overtake me on my right while her husband did the same on my left. I have a small frame, but years of living in Southern Europe and Northern Africa helped me develop useful queuing skills. Several dancing steps to the right then to the left did the trick and yes… I got a window seat in the end!
Despite my efforts to remain calm, I could feel mounting anxiety and anger. I believe the emotions that triggered our behaviour (us low cost passengers) were a result of our reptilian brain overriding our rational brain components. We share this so-called reptilian brain with all living creatures; it is the oldest, most primitive element of our grey matter and forms the aggression-survival centre of our existence. In survival mode, the reptilian brain takes over and dictates to us whether to fight, freeze or flight. Basic emotions such as love, hate, fear, resentment and lust emanate from this brain. Although layers of rational thinking and sophisticated reasoning have been added to this foundation over millions of years of evolution, the antiquated reptilian brain takes over when we perceive danger or when we find ourselves under pressure in a threatening situation, even imagined. Although my experience boarding the plane was somewhat benign, it mirrored the much stronger emotions and threatening behaviour resulting from road rage. When we are out of control with road rage, we are responding to the messages emanating from the reptilian brain. The wild beast awakens.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) can help with road rage and anger issues in general by helping you understand the cause of you anger, which can usually be traced back to the way you think.Developing an awareness of faulty thinking patterns will in turn enable you to adopt a different perspective regarding external events out of your control. A person exhibiting dysfunctional anger (meaning it is problematic in their daily life) will often show what CBT therapists call ‘thinking errors’ that will predispose them to anger. Typical cognitive distortions might be: inflexible thinking, poor frustration tolerance or labelling others. Recognising and working with this kind of twisted thinking will eventually help you regard inconveniences and discomfort in a less emotive way, increase your tolerance levels and lessen your self-defeating anger.
