Sunday, 30 June 2013
How I Overcame my Fear of Traveling
When my friends talk about travelling to Enugu, Port-Harcourt,
Abuja, Lagos and other distant places, I heave sighs of distress as the
discussion keep me as nervy as a cat on a hot tin roof.
The long distance, the smoke from other vehicles, the speed, the coughs,
yawnings and farts of other passengers and mostly the overtaking of big lorries
make me stay awake, conscious and alert until my destination is reached.
So, when my dad said I was going to do
my Industrial Training (IT) at Daily Sun, Abuja, I would have given him a punch
on the jaw….if he were not my father. How dared he, knowing how I felt about
long journeys. The other IT I undertook in Enugu was the farthest I could go
because it only took 45min to get there from Nsukka.
However, my dad persuaded me to go,
giving me so many reasons why I should start learning how to undertake far
journeys and convincing me that I was not only going to enjoy the IT but also
meet the state of development there, contrary to what we are used to in Nsukka.
Afterwards, I decided to take a
chance. I saw sense in what he was saying. Should I risk the chance of seeing
the better part of the world just because I was hypersensitive to travelling?
NO. I’d rather look for solution to my inimical problem than jeopardize my
possibility of being more than a novice in the world and in my profession. I
browsed the internet through Google onhow to overcome fear and stress of long
journeys. After going through the write-up, I developed this sense of
confidence and enthusiasm to test and see. I told my dad I was ready to go and
the preparations set off.
We took off on Tuesday, 23rd August, by 9am. My aunt whom I was
going to stay with and her daughter were travelling with me together that day.
As we entered the bus, I became tensed. There was a woman with a baby sitting
next to me and they were carrying bags and baggage. As the bus driver brought
the engine to live, I brought out my bible and read Psalm 91- Prayer for
Protection. I prayed to God to grant usan enormous safe trip.
However, as we began to leave the outskirts of Nsukka and as we started seeing Big
Lorries and Vans carrying all
sorts of materials, I became panick-strickened, as usual. I dropped the book I
was reading and fixed my gaze on the road and then it started….again.it was
raining heavily and the driver was riding
at an alarming speed.The driver was going to overtake a big and heavy vehicle
carrying long sticks. The road was not straight for me to see if there were
cars coming from the front and I didn’t think the driver saw any sense with me
because he was still trying to OVERTAKE!! That was when my heart jumped to my
throat. What if there was another lorry speeding and coming from the front?
What will the driver do? The road was not spacious to accommodate three
vehicles on the samelane? I wanted to shout at the driver…DON’T TRY IT but no
words came from my mouth.
I looked at other passengers with big wide eyes to
see if they were noticing what I was seeingbut no one seemedto be aware. The woman carrying
her baby was sleeping and snoring, my aunt and her daughter werechatting
awaygisting and laughing hysterically. Others were busy eating and playing
music. I seemseemed to be the
only one aware that we might die soon.
As the driver began to overtake the
lorry on the curvy road, I saw a bigger lorry twice the size of the one being
overtaken coming from the front. We are gonna crash!! I prayed to God to do
something quickly but if this accident was meant to be, he should forgive my
sins and accept my soul in heaven. I hid my face under the back seat and waited
for the crashing.
I waited and waited but the bus kept moving. Nothing
happened. I brought my face up and saw the driver had successfully overtaken
the vehicle. I then realized that the driver was not dumb and that my
hypersensitivity and over consciousness of accidents was going to kill me even
before any accident happened. I brought out my bible and prayed again. This
time, I prayed that God should remove this fear of road accidents from my
system and I think He answered my prayer. I decided to stop looking at the road
and allow the driver to do his thing.
God was in control. That was when I
noticed that we had left Enugu completely and now in Kogi
state, according to a sign-post I saw. I looked around me and gasped in
excitement. The wonders of God’s creation will never seize to amaze me. The
surroundings looked so beautiful. The rain had stopped falling and the clouds
were awakening with the sun. I noticed the trees were glistening as if honey
was being rubbed on it.
As we moved on, I started feeling more
at ease as my attention was
turned away from the road to my
surrounding. I brought out my jotter and began to jot things down. The names of
the cities we passed, the names of the mountains (my aunt told me). This time,
I didn’t notice that my buttocks were in pains due to long sitting or that I was so hungry
and feeling pressed until we reached Lokoja where the driver stopped for us to refresh
I must confess that this journey was
the best I have ever undertaken because for the first time, I wasn’t conscious
of the road or the smoke from other vehicles. In fact, I gained a lot of
knowledge from this journey and promise that this is a tip of the ice-berg of
more long journeys I’m going to embark on. God has shown me the other side of
the coin and I’m going to enjoy it to the fullest.
If you’re struggling with fear of long
journeys, after reading my story, tell yourself that the days of fearing is
over. Just pick a book you enjoy best, avoid driving with the driver and try to make
conversations with other passengers. Also, try and focus on your surroundings
and see the beautiful things God has created. Take your ear piece and phone and
listen to motivational music on the way, try and take a nap if you can and you
will find that the journey will no longer be long to you. No more fears, no
more folds. Enjoy!!
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Hmm! Your story has a nostalgic effect on me, memories of the past.
ReplyDeleteYour anticipated fears and worries were normal and thanks to Providence that you discovered the antidote by yourself, a good research.